Fog of Shadows and Discontent
by Zombieteen1996
Summary: Crossover of the TV Show Monsters and Pirates and the Creepypasta Candle Cove. A strange young women washes ashore on the island of the Pirate Academy and our two main heroes: Captain Alisea and Captain Flinn come across her. Soon a search for the missing niece of the Professor is started and the dark secret and history of the once glorious Candle Cove is unveiled. I own nothing!
1. Chapter 1

It was a dark and stormy night, at the Pirate Academy. The storm of the century. The harsh, howling winds and the bullet shower like rain whipped against the closed windows of the student dorms'; carrying with it bits and pieces of the trees by the beach, sand, and salt water from the dark gray and black ocean. Though all ships were carried inland, only a fool would have decided to remain in their cabins and wait out the storm there like scared rabbits from a blood sport fox. All the students retired to their dorm room on the academy grounds. Thunder bellowed like a galloping herd of wild stallions and lightning struck with such force as if God himself were trying to down the earth itself. In their dorm room, snug and warm under think blankets of feather; safe from the battle outside, the girls from the Eldorado and the Aurora slept soundly in their bunk beds.

All except one that is.

The captain of the Eldorado, Alisea, lay awake with her head barley sticking out from underneath the blanked; looking out at the storm though the weather beaten windows of the Girls Dorm. She wasn't use to the softness of the bed nor the velocity of the storm. In all her waking days, she has never encountered such a mighty storm and probably never will again for until the day she shall take her final breath. Her head was filled with worries; would she and her crew be able to leave port as planned tomorrow? How much repair would have to be done before all damages were erases? The typical questions a captain asks themselves on nights such as this. She rolled on her back, hopping that taking her eyes of the storm would allow her enough rest so she would be able be the leader she ought to be. She stared at the solid wooden bottom of the bed above her, losing her mind in the seemingly endless swirls of the woodwork when the sudden movement of the Person above her caught her attention. The girl looked over the edge at her.

It was Donnie, her pink pigtails hanging down like stalactites and her blue eyes glowing in the darkened room; giving her an almost unworldly appearance. "You can't sleep either, can you?" asked the young women in a sleep dries voice, "If you can't what makes you think I could" replied the captain in an equally dry voice. "Do you think the guys are any better off?", "The beds are too soft, no sane sailor could get any shut-eye in this." The young female captain returned her eyes to the wood above her," to be honest, I don't even think we will be able to leave tomorrow anyways."

With that, Donnie returned to her bed and again tempted to seduce the sandman into granting her rest. Alisea, on the other hand, returned her attention to the window; for her, there was no rest for the night.

Sometime around daybreak, the storm lessened its grip upon the world and the young captain, at last, was granted some rest.

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Captain Flinn awoke before the rest of his crew, his eyelids heavy from the rest that he was denied. He got up and fixed his bed before heading outside. Outside, the young captain filled his lungs with the air that was filled with the salty aroma of the ocean and the pungent aroma of late fish. The academy courtyard grounds were filled with sand and various plant-lives from both land and sea. He wasn't the only who had risen early; other seamen, men who had already sailed the seven seas countless times, were up to inspect the damage. Their faces filled with the annoyance such a storm brings with him. Flinn looked closely, but among the elders, though he knew many of them, were any of his graduations class. He made his way swiftly to the beach, hopping there weren't too many damages. The sand and dead branches from the trees crunched under his booted steps.

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As the blue haired walked along the beach, shaking his head at the mounts of seaweed and other trinkets the ocean offered, another captain came his way. "Hey Alise' have you had any more luck last night then I?" he asked as the brown haired came closer, but as a responds she only shook her head. With a sigh the captain looked around, "A storm of the century; I am actually surprised there wasn't more damage. My guess is that, if nothing happens, we should be ready to set sails over morrow.", "Let's hope that Lily and her folk were spared by the storm; the last thing that any of us could handle would be a mermen's funeral." Replied the young women, her eyes wondered as did her love's. Close to the shrub, where the sand kissed the green, something caught her attention. From the distance she was at, it looked like a corps and for a moment her blood ran cold. Flinn followed his love's frozen gaze to the object that had caught it. Gently he tugged her arms for her to follow him. Luckily, on closer inspection, it was revealed that, the object mistaken for a corps was nothing more than a sun-bleached tree trunk. Alisea was about to sigh in relief when she noticed strange markings on the trunk that looked like claw marks of something with four fingers. As she inspected the trunk more closely, Flinn again tugged her sleeve and pointed to something that was no more than a few feet away, and this time, it wasn't a tree trunk.


	2. Chapter 2

As the sun continued to rise the humidity did likewise and the smells of the ocean grew in strength as the citizens and the students of the island worked to clean the remnants of the storm. In her office, the nurse Mss. Jacklyn aided those who came to her with wonders and other pains that only a doctor could cure. Jacklyn was the youngest sister of the principal, with long black hair that she kept in a bun at the back of her head, large brown eyes and a pair of glasses on her nose; she looked like a younger, thinner, and more feminine version of the principal. The only patients who required more attention and care than those who just came and went were the old hermit who lived at the edge of their town and the mystery girl that was found this morning on the beach. As she bandaged the bleeding hand of a first-semester student, who had cut his palm while attempting to move a broken, wooden crate all on his own, she couldn't help her mind to wonder over to the sleeping mystery girl that the students, Alisea, and Flinn, had brought to her this morning.

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Alisea returned to the girl's dorm at around twelve in the morning; after helping Flinn carrying the strange and unconscious girl to the doctor and directing a boy with a bleeding hand to said doctor, she had had about enough of the effects the storm had on this island. As she stepped through the doors of the girl's dorm, she noticed something that she had probably missed this morning when she first left; all the windows of the ground floor had been blown in by the storm, their broken glass shimmered in the rising sunlight like a dangerous diamond. Luckily, Donnie and Myri were up and sweeping the deadly shards into neat piles to be picked up. The first one to look up and notice the returned captain was the green-eyed Myri, who immediately greeted her friend with a warm smile.

"Where have you been all morning? I was about to go looking for you…after I finished helping Donnie of course." Asked the gypsy with a smile, "I left early this morning to get a good look at the damage the storm has created on the docks, as far as I can tell, there will be no leaving for at least two days and Flinn and I discovered a stranger to the island. She was unconscious and my best guess is that she must have been a shipwreck survivor or a citizen of the next closest island and that the storm blew her onto this one since neither I nor Flinn have seen her on this island before." This made Donnie pause her work and look up too.

"A stranger, are you sure she isn't just one of the new students?" asked the pink-haired girl with a worried expression.

"No, I'm sure she was carried onto this island by the storm. She had no form of identification or uniform that belonged to the academy or to the island and, besides, all newcomers who plan to stay on this island must check up with Dr. Jacklyn first and she couldn't remember ever seeing this girl in her entire life. Besides, who would have gone out at night with a storm like we had?"

"Maybe Donnie or I know her, we both come from an island not too far off of this one and, as you said, it could be very possible that the storm blew her over here." Said Myri as she leaned on her broom.

"Or, maybe, the guys could know who she is. I think we should pay her a visit, even if she isn't awake by the time we get there, we might be able to recognize her." Added Donnie, now just as concerned for the stranger as the other two. "Good idea, but let's first get this hallway done before some daydreamer hurts himself on the glass, I'll go and get another broom and a bucket." Replied Alisea as she walked past her two friends to get to the broom closet at the end of the hallway. In no time, the three girls cleaned the hallways of glass shards and placed them all in a bucket that they positioned in a corner so no one would fall over it and spill its contents all over the floor again. With a piece of chalk that Myri always carried around with her, she wrote on the entrance door to the dorm a warning that the windows were broken and that whoever entered should be careful when walking around, since there could still be dangerous glass dust on the walls that they might have missed; after that, the girls were on their way to the hospital cabin, which was located at the far corner of the Academy courtyard.

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The girls arrived as the doctor made her way out of the cabin, a worried look on her face. "Dr. Jacklyn how is the stranger?" asked Myri was she spotted the young doctor, who was only old enough to be their mother. The doctor jumped a little in surprise for she hadn't expected anyone else to come to the hospital cabin for the rest of the day, since most of the serious injuries were taken care off, "Oh, girls…it is just you, about the stranger, I would suggest staying away from her. I fear she is suffering from something and I don't quite know what it is, I was on my way to the library since the book I carry can't give me anything useful. If you have to see her now, please stay at a distance and be careful not to get any bodily liquids from her on you. Though I don't think she is contagious, I don't want to take any risks either." Explained the doctor, the midday sun shone on her glasses, giving her eyes the appearance of those of a cat at night.

"We promise to be careful around her." Answered Donnie and with an affirmative nod of the head, the doctor excused herself, leaving the three girls standing in front of the hospital cabin with the choice of either entering or returning to their dorm where there was a guarantee of not being possibly infected with what worried the doctor.


	3. Chapter 3

The jolly principal walked through his office, picking up random pieces of paper, books, and maps that have been strewn around the room because of an open window when there came a knock from his office door. "Who's there?" asked the principal, "It is I" was the quick reply. The principal quickly recognized his little sister's call and allowed her to enter since she was used to seeing his workplace in shambles. "Ah, my dear sister, how are you today; I hope the storm hasn't caused you too much stress."

Jacklyn simply smiled at her brother's jolliness despite the circumstance, "I have been doing alright with the outcome of the storm, just the common injuries like a broken bone and some bad cuts to those who were too slow to get to shelter or to those who didn't barricade their doors and windows…" her smile faded, "but two of your top students, those two captains who graduated early last year…"

"You mean Alisea and Flinn?" asked the principal while a few pages slipped from his hands.

"Yes, I meant those two; they brought me, someone, this morning an unconscious girl they found at the beach." This caught the principal's full attention; he placed the books and papers he had so far gathered on his desk and leaned on his heavily. "I hope the girl is alright...is she a student?" asked the principal with worry, "I don't think she is a student and as far as I could gather she isn't badly hurt, just a concussion brought by a blow to the back of the skull, but that is not why I am here. I have the fear that the girl has some sort of sickness, disease, or hereditary illness." Said the doctor to her brother, "What makes you think such an idea?" asked the principal with a questioning expression. "I have checked her bodily functions; her mouth is incapable of producing saliva, there is no form of perspiration on her skin, I have also checked her pulse and discovered that I couldn't find any; if it weren't for the rustling sound coming from her lungs when she inhaled, I would have thought of her to be deceased." The principal looked at his beloved sister in disbelieve as she heard her claims. "Surely you must be mistaken, such a thing is impossible.", "This is why I am here, I looked over all my medical books and could find no illness that fits the symptoms, I wanted to know if I can't find anything within medical books in the local library if I may travel to the mainland and look in the university library there." Her brother took a moment to consider the possibilities of what could happen if he let the only doctor leave the island, but he knew that if he didn't let her go and research what the illness could be and if it were contagious, then he could face a potential epidemic. "Alright, I grant you the journey to the mainland, but only if there aren't any book at our library that could help you in solving this problem. Are there currently any chances of an outbreak?" the doctor rubbed her chin in deep thought. "Well, she isn't giving off any fluids and hasn't coughed or sneezed, so I believe that for the moment it is safe for people to be around her when at a safe distance, but I would still advise anyone to be cautious then around her."

The principal thought for a moment, "Is someone currently looking over her?"

"Currently, I believe that your former students Miry, Donnie and Alisea are looking after her, but I am not sure since I told them to stay a safe distance from, but knowing the girls, they probably went against my orders." Said Jacklyn in a joking manner. "Alright I grant you the journey, but I think you should return to the patient for now." Jacklyn nodded and turned to leave before stopping by the door. "Let's hope I am mistaking with my observations." Her brother only nodded in return as he continued with his task of cleaning his office.

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Meanwhile, the three girls have gathered around the bed of the unconscious stranger. The room was stuffy dimly light, despite the sun shining through the windows and all except the one that helped the stranger. The stranger was a young woman about the age of the girls; her hair was a fiery shade of red and her skin was an alabaster white and tightly stretched over she bones. Her features were soft and her body was petite despite being unusually thin for her estimated age; she appeared more bone and even seemed to be so thin that she didn't possess any organs and except for the slight lifting and falling for her chest and the soft rattling sound of the lungs she appeared to be deceased. Out of pure confusion and fascination, Alisea leaned closer to the stranger despite the doctor's warning not to get too close to her. "Don't!" said Donnie and grabbed Alisea's arm and pulled her away from the stranger. "Don't forget the doctor warned us not to get too closer to her." Added Myri with an angry and worried expression on her face while Alisea only gave both of them an annoyed look. "She is not moving and she isn't coughing or sneezing or even appears to give off any bodily fluids so there is no way for me to get sick." Replied Alisea in a cocky voice and once again got closer to the stranger with fake fascination across her face knowing that it would worry her friends can continues just for fun; just as she was about to lose her faked interest the eyes of the unconscious girl open wide and she sits up almost knocking heads with Alisea, who jumped back and almost knocks her friends to the ground. The strange girl grabs Alisea and pulls her close despite Alisea trying to pull away, "where am I?" asked she panting heavily and looking around frantically. "You are at the Black Beard Academy for Pirates…where are you from?" asked Alisea genially frightened and wanting nothing more than to get away from the apparently crazed stranger. The girl loosened her grip and fell back onto the bed with closed eyes and a gentle smile on her thin and dry lips, "I did it, I got away."

"Away from what?" Asked Myri


	4. Chapter 4

On her way through the academy courtyard, the doctor noticed the amount of damage the storm actually caused. Most of the student's and other seamen walked around with cuts and bruises; she was quite surprised how many of them had actually not visited her to help them aid in their healing; both physically and mentally, but she knew that she couldn't force them to let her help them, though personally she wished she could.

"Good morning Dr. Jacklyn." the voice addressing her directly startled her out of her and she found herself looking at one of the two recently graduated captains. "Oh, good morning Captain Flinn How are you and your crew dealing with the outcome of the storm?"

"I have met up with my first and second mate and have discussed some of the damages with them, but I have been unable to find the rest of my crew; have you seen them by any chance?" asked the young man smiling politely at the doctor. " I have seen them, shortly after you and Alisea have brought me that young women you found on the beach, to be more exact, Alisea, Donnie and Myri came to visit the young women about an hour after you brought her to me, I told them to keep their distance from her though." At this the young captain frowns; not at his crew visiting the young women, he was sure that Alisea would have told them all about her and would have brought them to her for a visit, but at the doctor warning them to keep their distance from the young women. "Why should they keep their distance from her, is she sick?", "That's just it, I'm not sure if the young women is sick. I have gone through my normal procedure and have found some oddities, some of them being that the women has little to no bodily fluids, which would concern me if he was showing signs of dehydration, but she seems to be perfectly fine. I have also been unable to find a pulse on her, but maybe I have just made a mistake and haven't listened closely. For these and my personal concerns, I have ordered everyone who wants to see her keep a distance from her, just in case the women has some sickness unknown to me and spreads it to others. I hope you understand my concerns"

The young captain nodded but personally felt that the young women posed no threat to anyone since it was him and Alisea who found her and brought her to the doctor. Thinking that the rest of his crew and his girlfriend were probably still with the young women, he asked if he may follow the doctor back to her small hospital cottage and as expected the doctor allowed it. As he followed the doctor the thought crossed his mind; where did the young women come from and was she the one who caused the scratched on the bleached tree trunk; was she holding onto the trunk while the storm-tossed and turned her around in the ocean like a rag doll? Once at the hospital cottage, the doctor stops shortly past the threshold.

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"Away from what?" Asked Myri, only to have the answer to that be that the young women sat upright in bed and once again grabbed Alisea by the sleeve. "You won't send me back, won't you?" asked the women, completely ignoring Myri and instead looking Alisea directly in the eyes. Alisea, so dumfounded by the women's reactions, could hardly do anything but look back at the women and noting how glowingly green her eyes were, almost as green and glowing like polished emeralds. "Umm…No, we won't be sending you back…it's difficult to do so if we don't know where you come from." Was the answer she was finally able to give the women who haven't stopped staring directly into her eyes. "Ma'am, where did you come from and what were you running away from?" Asked Myri, now more curious as of the women's origins then concerned of her friend's safety. At this, the strange, young women's eyes focused on her, but her hand still tightly clutched to Alisea's sleeve. "It's none of your business ma'am. I will tell you when I feel like it and at the moment, I don't." spat the young women in a harsh and almost hostile tone before directing her attention back to Alisea. "What's your name young lady?"

At the sudden sweetness of her voice towards her, after hearing her practically attack her friend for a benign question startled her, but Alisea knew better than to show a person, who might be mentally unstable her feelings and concerns. "My name is Alisea…Alisea Windjackle from Monster Island." This was the answer she almost always gave when asked about her identification. The women squinted her eyes at Alisea, almost like trying to remember every single detail of this young lady and while the strange young women was looking at Alisea like a tiger would at his prey, the room became uncomforting quiet. The four women practically jumped when the doctor opened the door and stared at them with a look of anger, disappointment and concern.

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"I thought I told the three of you to keep your distance from her until I have fully observed her." Said the doctor as she found the strange women clasping the sleeve of the young captain as if it were a life raft. Flinn, confused about what the doctor was saying, stepped into the cottage and stared in shock as, the unconscious women from earlier, was holding his girlfriend so close that, if she wanted to hurt her, they wouldn't be able to reach them in time to stop it. To further frighten him, the young women seemingly almost crawled onto his girlfriend's lap after she spotted him; yelling and sputtering incoherent words of how she shouldn't let him get close to her, all the while Alisea looked back and forth between him and the women with a look of confusion and fear. "Ma'am there is nothing to be afraid of he is a friend; he and I found you unconscious on the beach by a tree trunk." Said Alisea while gently stroking the women's fiery red hair; trying to comfort and calm her down before she would hurt herself or anyone else. "Don't trust him. Don't trust men in general!" at this point, the women was once again staring in Alisea's eyes like a prisoner begging a judge for a lesser sentence. Flinn wanted to push past the doctor to aid his girlfriend, but the doctor stopped his efforts with a single look; a look that gave him some reassurance that Alisea would be alright and that his interference would just worsen the situation. Simultaneously the doctor motioned both Donnie and Myri to step further away from the women with a beckoning motion of the hand; reluctantly the two girls left the side of their friend's side, looking back only once to see their friend nodding to them that it's alright for them to leave. At this point, Alisea was certain that the women must have either suffered a serious head trauma, sunstroke or was simply mad. After a good fifteen minutes of stroking the women's hair and the doctor coaxing her with promises of protection, the women eventually let go of Alisea and laid back down on the bed with a racing heart; still shaking a bit, but visibly calmer than earlier. The doctor prepared a syringe with a narcotic to fully relax the women and allow her to get some rest and within seconds of injection, the strange women swayed somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. "My name is Willow." Said the young women to Alisea in a sleepy, almost whispery voice as Alisea was about to get up and leave, making her stop in her tracks. "Nice to meet you, Willow." Said Alisea with a smile, "Please don't leave me." Begged Willow while trying to reach for Alisea. "I have to leave to survey the damage done to my ship by the storm and to see if anyone needs any help, but I promise I'll be back before you wake up, is that alright with you?" at this point the Willow lay calm, asleep and unresponsive on the bed with a small smile on her thin, dry lips.


	5. Chapter 5

On second glance and with the sun high in the sky the damage to the ships seemed less troublesome and time-consuming than initially thought. Flinn observed how most of the damage to his ship were piles of sand, seaweed, and a few ripped sails. With a sigh, he picked up a broom and went to work while Miry and Donnie went to find the others. While brushing the piles of sand and seaweed off the ship's deck, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to the women and how she seemingly held on to Alisea for dear life. Several questions like: where the women came from? Had the storm carried her to the island? And, if what Alisea's words could be believed, what was she running from? Furthermore, he was wondering how his girlfriend was doing and if the stranger named Willow had harmed her.

By the time his crew came to the ship, having had some difficulty find, Shill, only to find him at the mess hall, Flinn had cleared about a quarter of the ship's deck of the wreckage. "Aye there Flinn, how about's you get a break; we can take it from here." Called Pablo as he walked on deck, "Sorry for the wait, but we had to find my brother first and let's just say; he was where I thought he was going to be but we didn't look there first." Apologized Donnie while giving her brother an annoyed and angry look over her shoulder, which made him give his friends an apologetic puppy-eyed look that could easily cool and melt any flamingly angry heart. "It's alright, I got us a good start, but a lot still needs to be done. If none of you guys mind, I'll check up on Alisea and her crew and make sure they are doing alright."

"It's okay with us; can you ask Alisea how she is doing? That strange women must have surely scared her half to death." Asked Myri with a small innocent smile to which Flinn smile back and assured her that he would ask her. With this, he walked off.

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The Eldorado was docked almost a quarter of a mile away and as he came closer his feelings dropped. Unlike his sails, which only needed a few repairs, her's seemed completely ruined; unlike his ship that was covered in sand and seaweed; her's seemed covered in shrubs and other, unidentifiable, pieces of debris; unlike his ship that seemed to, after some repairs, to be able to leave tomorrow; her's seemed to need a little more time.

"Hey there Alisea is everything alright?" asked Flinn as he stepped onto the deck of the Eldorado. "Stop exactly where you are and don't take another step further!" shouted Alisea as she stepped over a small portion of a tree, possibly the crown or a large branch, with a broom in her hand. "A barrel of nails burst during the storm and the nails are everywhere; I don't want you to get hurt." Her eyes scanned the ground for safe footing, which seemed harder than expected. "Where is the rest of you crew?" asked Flinn as he scanned the deck with his own eyes for any other sign of life. "They are under the deck and are looking for any further damages, I hope they don't find any, though; but the looks of it, it will take at least two days to fix this," She said jesting to the damage seen on deck, "how about you and your ship? Is the damage bad too?"

"Not as bad as this, but I'm sure we can help you." Offered the young captain to his girlfriend, which earned him a small smile of gratitude from her full lips, "That would be nice, but I would have to discuss that with my crew first, they think we can pull this off by ourselves."

"How are you feeling?" asked Flinn with a fading smile, hoping she would simply smile back and tell him not to worry about her. "Well, I am still shaking a little from what happened earlier in the day, but it could be worse, but I can't stop thinking about that poor women, she seems to have gone through a lot." Replied Alisea with a worried expression; her reply only dampened Flinn's mood, though he could still hide it with a small, reassuring smile. "I'm sure she'll be alright when given time to recover, but you are right, I too would like to know where she came from and who she was running away from; maybe, if we knew, we could help protect her, or, at least, give her a safe passage another island."

"I would like to know why she became so frightened when you appeared. It was almost like you reminded her of someone." Mentioned Alisea with a worried look, hoping her words haven't hurt his feelings.

"How about, when you visit her later, you question her about her origins and why she was so frightened of me?" Alisea considered his plan for a moment and then agreed that it was a good way to find out about the women's origins; especially since Willow seemed to instantly connect with her though she doesn't exactly know why the women chose her over the other two women in the room with her.

Guessing by a number of narcotics the doctor gave her, the two had about two to two and a half hours before they would have to make their way back to the hospital cabin, and for some reason, Alisea had a bad feeling over what they would find out about their new found "friend". A dark, foreshadowing feeling that was close to one of someone stepping on her grave and one that she hoped and prayed wouldn't last long.


	6. Chapter 6

Within an hour, Flinn and Alisea were able to roll the piece of the tree off the ship; making it land in the water with a loud splash. "Boy am I glad this is out of the way now, thanks" thanked Alisea as she gave Flinn a gentle smile; he smiled back at her, "Hey, do you have another broom? I think I could help you with the nails." To this offer, Alisea only waved her hand in a "no thanks" manner. "We'll be fine from here, it's that huge piece of the tree that was giving me a hard time.", "Well it's gone now, are you sure there is nothing I can help you with?" Alisea nodded and turned to the door that led below deck. "If you want you can stay, but I have to see how Floe and Lulu are doing, they have been below deck for a while now."

"I'll come with you, my crew told me to take a break and send me away."

"Just be careful, I don't know what all happened down there." With that they went down the steps that led to the lower deck; at first everything seemed alright with the books and maps seemingly untouched by the storm, the rooms were untouched and so were the smaller storage areas, but once in the cargo hulk the image quickly changed; barrels, boxes and other containers seemed aimlessly strewn about and in the center of it stood Floe, the young octopus monster was already red with anger. From the looks of it, she has already cleared a good portion. "Good job Floe!" said Alisea in a cheerful voice, hoping to calm her friend down. "Good job? Good job! I hardly got anywhere and there is still so much left to do!" in frustration the young monster turned a deep scarlet and kicked one of the empty barrels, causing it to roll to a far corner of the cargo hulk. With a calming sigh she turned to her friends, "I hope you two are doing better than I; what was that splash I heard earlier? I hope it wasn't anything serious."

"Oh no, it was just that piece of tree that lay on deck; I thought I could move it on my own, but I couldn't so I went about cleaning up the nails and then Flinn came and helped me roll it off into the ocean, how about you and Lulu take a break, just be careful when you step on deck, I might have missed a nail or two."

The now calmed and blue octopus smiled at her captain, "Thank you Alisea, Lulu is probably somewhere in the hallway checking for further damage, we won't be gone long, we will just go and get some supplies for fixing the sails, we have found the spares, but not the sewing equipment; it's almost like the storm gobbled them up." With that the octopus left, leaving her captain and the captain of the Aurora alone.

"Why haven't you told them about my offer?" the young captain was confused for he had hoped to be more of use to his girlfriend then he had been all day. "Well the most work that needed to be done was the tree and now it's out of the way, again thanks for helping me." Her smile warmed his heart and caused him to smile back at her, but the smile faded when he realized they would have to slowly make their way to the hospital cabin and once again face that women. The same thought seemed to have crossed her mind too, for her smile faded as well and a grim atmosphere lowered itself upon them.

"I guess we should make our way to her now, I think its best we are there shortly before she wakes up; not that she might panic and cause any more harm." Flinn agreed with her on that, though he had only seen her briefly and hadn't even spoken to her, he had seen enough of her actions to know that, if she were to awaken all alone, or even with the doctor around, that she might throw a temper tantrum and become a danger to her and others. "You are right, but how about we take our time a little when we make our way to her, I just don't feel right about her."

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The doctor looked upon the clock that hung above her desk showed her to have enough time to make a quick trip to the library before her patient awoke. Having spent an entire hour examining the strange women in her sleep brought no further clarity and neither had the books in her possessions. Once she thought she had found a sickness or disease fitting to the patient symptoms the women seemed to spur another that crushed the doctor's theory. Writing a quick note upon the door informing any potential visitors of her locations, she made her way. She smiled at how quickly the streets were cleared and the people back to their regular routine, almost as if the storm had never even occurred. To the doctor who had lost so much and gained more than her loss, it was a very uplifting sight that was accompanied by bright sunshine and warm temperature; sadly her mood dampened when she reached the library doors. She hated that place; all year round it was cold, dark and simply felt gloomy compared to the rest of the island, which was odd seeing as there was never anything wrong with the building: the structure was sound, it had plenty of windows and contained some vital information; never the less, to the doctor it always seemed cold and gloomy, but she could never put her finger on as to why? She reminded herself that she had a job to do, and nothing ever came between her and the wellbeing of her patients.

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Standing before the door of the hospital cabin, Alisea turned to her boyfriend with a very worried expression. "Flinn, I know you are worried and don't want me to face her on my own, but last time she saw you she had a small panic attack, maybe I should try to face her on my own first, just to see how she is after having cooled down." To him this sounded downright suicidal, the last time she had a panic attack in the works and he felt like he may have just been the straw that broke the camel's back; never the less, he agreed, but told her that as soon as things got weird or dangerous that he would intervene, no matter how sick a feeble the women was.

Inside, the mid-day sun shined in and gave everything a bright a friendly, warm look that was only challenged by the women laying on the bed with her widow-black dress and fiery hair the seemed to burn anyone who touched it. Very cautiously Alisea made her way to the women's bedside; with every creek of the floorboards Alisea's heart began to race faster and faster, fearing that at any moment the women would awaken and attack her like a lion pouncing on its prey. Slowly and silently, the young women began to awaken, giving Alisea a friendly smile when noticing Alisea by her bedside. "I see you kept your promise." The women's voice sounded dry and dusty, but she denied any water offered to her. "But you need it; it will help you get better faster."

"I don't need to get better."

"Alright, if you say so, but may I ask you something, Willow? You don't have to answer; I just want to know in order to help you."

"What is it?"

"Where are you from and what were you running from?"

Willow sighed and turned her marvelous green eyes to the ceiling, "It's a very odd story, and it might disturb you."

"I think I can take it, I just think my friends and I can help you if you explain to us what troubles you were in."

"I once had a normal life, but then something happened to me that I could not control, after that I awoke to a new life where I was forced to do things and hurt people that were once close to me only to be able to live. One day I just snapped and ran away; I thought that I could swim away from my home and just find another island to call my home; shortly after I left my home I must have swum into a storm, next thing I know I wake up to you."

"And who were you running from?" asked Alisea with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"All you need to know about him is that he is a dark shadow that won't stop at anything to get what he wants, he won't even stop at hurting pretty things like you," answered Willow while turning her glowing emerald eyes to Alisea.

"Where are you from?"

At this Willow closed her eyes as if hoping that naming the place of her origins wouldn't bring any harm upon the innocent and after a long and droning silence she opened her eyes and answered.

"Candle Cove."


	7. Chapter 7

After rows and rows and hours and hours of looking through copious amounts of old, dust and sometimes outdated books; Jacklyn had to call in clear defeat. There were a few slivers of light that could have solved the mystery of the strange girl, but after a deeper review of the implied symptoms, the light got extinguished and she was back into the darkness that was the mystery of the strange girl's sickness. The doctor sighed and rubbed her eyes, letting her glasses fall onto the halfway open medical book in front of her. "I don't believe in such things." She mumbled to herself before shutting the book violently in frustration; leaning back in the chair and looked out the window at the bright and cheerful day outside and wished she could be there.

Having had enough of the smell of old books, the young doctor left the library and filled her lungs with the sweet, warm outside air; looking around she noticed some of the crew members of the Eldorado leaving the supply store and waved at them despite knowing that they hadn't seen her. With a sigh, she decided to fill her lungs one more time, stretched her arms and then made her way to her brother, knowing that what she was going to tell him was not something he would want to hear.

XXXXX

Alisea tried to smile warmly at Willow, "Sorry, but I don't think I know about that island." Willow chuckled and smiled at Alisea, knowing that she was probably not the only one who didn't know the island existed. "Oh I am sure you haven't, we keep to ourselves. In fact, I think I am the only one to ever leave that place."

"Why did you leave?"

"It was for the best of all and that is all you need to know."

"You seem to enjoy being cryptic."

"Trust me; my cryptic messages are the only think keeping your mind innocent around me."

With the information given to her, Alisea felt the growing feeling of what could only be described as; fear for survival. "Willow, I just need to know, are you dangerous?"

Willow smiled and looked up at the ceiling, her eyes seemingly growing distant, as if trying to reach a far off place with her spirit, leaving her body behind. "That all depends on your definition of dangerous; I haven't hurt anyone directly, if that is what you are asking, but I have been the cause of a lot of sadness and pain; I can't say I am proud of what I have done, but I can't undo my past. I hope you won't judge me too harsh for what I have done."

"Of course I won't judge you."

This caught willow by surprise and her attention turned back to the young captain, "you won't?" Alisea only smiled, "You regret what you have done,"

"That won't change anything about me; about me being dangerous; about me potentially hurting you or your friends." Replied Willow while trying to smile, hopping to look as non-threatening as she could; the only problem was, it didn't seem to work on her new friend. "I got you didn't I?" Willow giggled and turned onto her side to fully face the young captain. "I am too tired to hurt anyone and only wish to move on."

Alisea let out a silent sigh of relief and relaxed back in her chair. "I have one more question, why were you so terrified of my friend Flinn?"

"You mean the guy with the funny blue hair? I have my reasons, but I think you should stay far away from that guy or men in general; none of them are any good." To this Alisea felt utter surprise; sure she knew that some men could be a big pain, her father was a good example of that, but she knew that this was only a small percentage and that most were alright; a good example was Flinn. "Why would you think something like that?"

Willow smiled at the young captain's naiveté. "You are still unexperienced, one day you will learn the truth about them and side with me."

XXXXX

When arriving at her brother's office, Jacklyn found him the way she was use to; him sitting at his desk, sifting through piles and piles of tests, reports, letters and other important documents. "Have I come at a bad time?" catching her brother off guard, he practically jumped out of his chair. "Jacklyn, do you have to sneak up on me? Have you found any information on our guest's condition?"

"Sadly no, none of our books or mine have anything that would fit our friend's condition. How successful have you been?"

"I have received some bad news. You know about the three former students that have rebelled against their captain?"

"You mean the ones that were imprisoned by the Bula Bula? Yeah I remember you telling me about them, what's important about them?"

"Well, the Bula Bula seems to have released them. The princess, in fact, has gone out of her way to send them back to the academy. From the letter send to me, all I could find out was that they weren't sufficient enough as "slaves" and the princess seemed too tired of their existence to keep them as "pets". I have hoped they wouldn't return for their own safety." He sight and gave his sister a warm smile. "After all, Alisea seems to be able to hold a grudge quite well."

"Well, I am sure she could forgive the two monsters, but that second mate Thomas? From what you have told me, I think she would kill him long before even considering forgiveness. If not her then her close friend would." Jacklyn couldn't help but giggle to herself. "So, do you have any plans for them when they arrive? I mean, you told me that they failed at kitchen duty."

"Most likely I will be forced to send them back home; these guys can't be trusted with anything. So, you are here to request a trip to the main land, right?"

"Well, I did say I would if I couldn't find anything; besides, I think out local library needs to be updated, most of the books here are older than the sand on our beach."

"Will you take our guest with you?"

"No, I am afraid of what will happen. Though I am scared of a possible outbreak, this island can be evacuated much faster than even the smallest city on the main land. Also, if the girl were to die on the trip, then we might never find out what she was afflicted with. I will leave strict instruction on how to handle her and will hopefully keep her as isolated as possible." at this her brother took a seat and closed his eyes trying to collect himself.

"Everything seems to be going wrong lately. Fist the storm and its damages, then the stranger and her sickness, then three traitors being returned to me and now you, me dearest sister, is leaving me."

"Stop being so dramatic, I am not leaving you I am looking for the answer to a question, the storm was bound to happen; it was overdue for years. The stranger was just an accident and the traitors have nowhere else to go. Besides, I won't be gone for long, a week tops and then I will be back. Nothing big should happen in that one week, the worst is over and all the sailors here have had some experience." She gave her brother a warm hug; feeling how much bigger he was compared to her, it reminded her of how he took after their father, "Besides, I gave you a promise of never leaving." To this her brother smiled and hugged her thin frame. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow afternoon."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author note: Is anyone even reading this?


	8. Chapter 8

After what felt like hours, Flinn couldn't take it any longer; for almost an hour he had hardly heard anything from inside the hospital cabin. Just as he turned to open the door he noticed someone familiar approaching from the corner of his sight. Immediately anger coursed through his vanes and a lot of painful memories flashed through his mind. One, more painful, was the memory of himself almost being torn apart by plants and Alisea trying to save him, only to be abandoned by those she had once trusted so much.

Thomas.

Hoping Thomas and the two monsters accompanying him hadn't noticed him he remained facing the cabin door. Sadly it didn't work as he felt a hand tap his shoulder. "Hey, I think I know you…it's Flinn right?" simply the voice was enough to get Flinn's blood boiling; nothing about the voice had changed, the slight mocking undertone lining every sentence, the self-indulging and know-it-all way of speech. "Yes, that is my name," replied Flinn without turning to the one who had addressed him. "And I know who you are, need anything?" his tone was icy and he hoped it would turn off his former acquaintances. "No really, just thought we could have a small chat. So I heard you and Alisea are together. Is that correct or is that just a rumor that has found its way to my ears?"

"Umm I don't think that is any of our business Thomas," said the crocodile as he turned to the young man by his side. Ever since their betrayal to Alisea, Zorion had feelings of regrets and had hoped that somehow she could forgive them. Thinking back, they didn't have it any better under her leadership than under Thomas's or even Espadon's who was nothing more than a glorified slave master the way he ordered them around.

"You should listen to your mate there and stay out of this, unless you want trouble." at this Thomas only scuffed, "You and trouble, doesn't sound like you, but I guess you are just getting into the practice of protecting your future wife. It's all women like her are good for."

For some reason this made the young captain see red, sure he too was raised an old fashion way that women were to stay home and take care of the house and home, but he had accepted that times have changed and that women were just as good at a man's than a man. Though he had been raised to be a gentleman to all whom he came into contact with, whether they have wronged him or not, but this struck a chord too deep and before he could stop himself he turned, swung his fist and hit Thomas square in the face; knocking the young sailor to the ground. Flinn could feel his blood leave his face as realization hit, which was shortly followed by Thomas's retaliation. The young sailor managed to knock his equally aged superior off his feet and into the door of the hospital cabin. Sadly the lock of the cabin door wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of two sailors flinging themselves at it's poor, worn-out form and it gave way; letting the two fall into the cabin.

XXXXX

At the sudden crash of splintering wood and two young men falling into their conversation, Willow sat up and held onto Alisea tightly, she wouldn't have any of this. It only took one glance at Thomas to get her anger boiling. She got up, pulling Willows hands off of her arm, and walked to the doctor's desk and picked up a flask of some clear liquid. She didn't know what it was she was holding, but it didn't matter; it was clear and in an air-tight flask and that was all she needed. She walked up to the two boys on the ground, removed the plug from the flask and held it over Thomas, who was about to punch Flinn in the face. "Stop what you are doing or I will pour this flask of acid over you!" her voice was cold and her movement was rigid; it was very clear that she would have poured the liquid over him even if it was acid, her hatred was this great for this one man. She had always asked herself why she hadn't just let the monster back in the emerald cave, but she could never find an answer. In a way, she though, she only wanted to make him feel the pain she felt when she was betrayed, but she didn't want him dead; though she was sure she hadn't mind it if the flesh-eating plants would have torn her and her boyfriend to shreds. Thankfully the threat seemed to have worked; Thomas had completely stopped just as he was throwing his fist up. He turned his head and looked at her with surprise, he hadn't expected anyone to be there and for a second he mistook Alisea's voice for the doctor's. His eyes shifted from the flask to Alisea and back to the flask, "Sure you are." he said sarcastically, he didn't believe she had what it took to acid-burn someone's face off, she didn't even have what it took to hurt someone in battle so for her to be able to hurt someone with acid was more implausible than pigs learning how to fly.

"Sorry to break it to you, but what you are holding is rubbing alcohol; I don't carry acid." the voice of the doctor in the doorway made the young women captain jump and drop the flask on Thomas's shoulder. It didn't break but spilled most of its content onto the young man. Thomas jumped and yelped, still half expecting there to be acid. Though he knew she would never hurt someone on purpose, he knew she was clumsy enough to hurt someone on accident when suddenly spooked. Jacklyn only shook her head and picked up the flask before fixing Thomas with an angry glare. To her, it was obvious what had happened, to an extent at least. "I met you friends running down the road on their way to the principal's office; I suggest you do the same." Said the doctor to get the young man to leave before anything got broken or anyone got seriously.

It took Thomas about half a minute to realize that his friends were no longer standing outside the door but had abandoned him before he ran himself. Once he was gone Jacklyn turned to Finn, who was still on the ground, and smiled. "I hope you are doing better than my door is. Did he hurt you?" the young captain shook his head before getting up and pulling a few pieces of wood off of his jacket; feeling lucky that none of the sharp pieces pierced him.

Alisea yelped in surprise when she felt something cold, clammy and heavy pulling her to the ground; she looked down and was relieved that it was just Willow who seemed to find the strength to crawl out of bed, "Willow…" she kneeled down to be at eye-level with her new friend, "you are supposed to stay in bed." She attempted to help willow back to bed, but Jacklyn stopped her.

"Alisea, I ordered you to keep your distance from her." Jacklyn took a few steps closer to Willow, only resulting in the young women crawling backward to get away from the doctor. "Get away from me!" Willow cried looking around for a way out or something to defend herself with; panic clearly wrote on her face.

"Jacklyn, I don't think she is contagious…" said Alisea, stepping between the doctor and the women.

"How are you supposed to know that?"

"Alisea, I don't think it is a good idea to argue with the doctor."

Alisea only looked at her boyfriend in annoyance before turning back to the doctor, "If she was, wouldn't I have gotten sick by now; besides, how could she infect me? She is as dry as a bone."

"I'm not sick." The girl's dry, raspy voice was followed by a moment of silence.

"You are not sick?" repeated Jacklyn, eyeing Willow questioningly.

"No…I am just different." Said Willow while holding on to Alisea, who has gone against the doctor's and her boyfriend's advice and helped Willow back onto the bed.

"Very different…I checked you…you didn't have a pulse to speak of."

"Maybe your equipment was broken." Rationalized Willow, This brought a smile to the doctor, who went to her desk and got her bag of equipment. "Fine I'll humor you, but my equipment always works; I make sure of it." She turned to the other two in the room, "I want you two to stay here; you will get a check-up too, just to make sure."


	9. Chapter 9

Outside the hospital cabin, Flinn could tell that Alisea was a little upset; though he wasn't completely sure why he had a gut feeling that it had something to do with him. "Is everything alright?" he asked as he gently placed a hand on her tens shoulder; she turned to him in response. "Not quite, what in all heaven were you fighting with Thomas? Why was he here? And lastly, why didn't you trust me with Willow?" she tried her best to keep her voice calm, but Flinn could tell she wanted to yell at him; to her credit, he would have yelled at himself too about Thomas, as for Willow, he wasn't so sure. "First of, I didn't mean to get into a fight and I have no idea why he was here in the first place, as for her, though, I thought it was better to listen to the doctor…after all, she might have gotten a heat-stroke and might not be all there right now."

"She seemed alright to me when we spoke" replied Alisea in Willow's defense, "sure she was a little odd and cryptic, but she didn't appear dangerous to me."

"What do you mean with she was cryptic?" asked Flinn, worried that his suspicions were correct and that the stranger was a danger. "She wouldn't really tell me why she tried to run away from her home." Lied Alisea, she had the idea that Willow left her home to start a new life and forget about her past, but telling Flinn now might just make him more uneasy about Willow's stay here. "I wonder why she wouldn't tell you, she seemed so fond of you, why do you think she was being 'cryptic'."

"Personally, I think she might have gotten hurt and just wasn't to move on or at the most she did something she isn't proud of and thinks she had to leave her home."

"Did she at least tell you where she was from?"

"She only mentioned it once, but I think it was something on the order of candle bay…candle shore…no…oh great…"

"You can't remember?"

"I had a tough time hearing her quiet voice." After a few seconds of replaying the conversation with Willow in her mind the name quickly came to her, "Candle Cove, she said she was From Candle Cove."

Flinn furrows his brows in frustration, "I have never heard of it, but if she got here via tree trunk, it can't be too far away." Alisea smiled at him and tried to change the subject, hoping to keep Willow's life as private to her as possible. "Anyway, do you think we should inform the principal about Thomas's percent's here?"

"I think it would be better, who knows what he and his friends are up to."

XXXXX

At the principal's office both Flinn and Alisea had to sit down to stomach the news as to why Thomas was back in their lives. "I can't believe that even the Bula Bula couldn't put up with them, I mean, I know there are filthy traitors, but I don't remember them being too bad at their jobs." Said Alisea as she was trying to figure out what those three could have done to warrant them being fired from what was essentially a slave-like job.

"From the information given to me, they weren't very good at being obedient servants. Since they can't return home without having redeemed themselves for legal reasons, I have agreed to let them stay here at the academy until such an opportunity shows itself." Replied the principal, he stroked his beard as he was pondering what to do with the 'new' guests when his thoughts got interrupted. "Can't you put them back in the kitchen?" asked Flinn, he certainly could care less where the traitors went, but he still cared for their lives.

The principal only smiled, "I thought of that, but I couldn't to the cook again, he was already upset to have them around him the last time; I don't think I could do that to him again." He thinks a little harder for a minute or two, "maybe I can convince the janitor to take them in, for now at least. Anyway, have the two of you had a chance to talk to our stranger from the beach?" At this, the two young captains looked at each other with worried expressions, "We know that the doctor wanted us to stay away from her, but…"

"I thought it would be better for her is there was someone there when she woke up; I thought she wouldn't panic and hurt herself or others." Interrupted Alisea because if they were going to get into trouble, she would take full responsibility; it was all her idea and she didn't think it was fair that he would get punished for helping her. "Don't worry I know the two of you had good intentions, but did you get anything out of her or was she unresponsive?"

"I couldn't get much out of her, she was either being cryptic on purpose or she isn't quite all there yet, but I could figure out where she came from and what her name was." Answered Alisea relieved that going against the doctor's advice wouldn't be followed with bad consequences. "Well?" the principal waited patiently, "Her name is Willow and that she came from Candle Cove." At this, the principal got excited at the mentioning of the name of where the girl was from.

"Candle Cove, did she really say that she came from Candle Cove?" the elderly man could hardly believe what he had just heard; he hadn't heard another person claim to be on that island for years. The two young captains, on the other hand, got a little uneasy at how excited their principal seemed to be at the mentioning of the location. "Y-yes, she claimed to be from that place, the problem is, we don't know where it is located." Stammered Alisea.

"Of course, you two probably haven't heard of it, that cove isn't even listed on any maps anymore." As quick as a young school-boy the elderly principal got up and rushed to his bookshelf full of maps and began to look around.

"Why wouldn't it be on a map?" Asked Flinn in confusion, he had heard of places that wouldn't be openly mentioned for their bad reputation of being filled with cheaters, crooks, drunkards and brothels, but he had never heard of a place being kept out of maps. "Too many people have died or have gone missing when trying to navigate through the thick fog that engulfs the entire cove; it's actually become very rare that anyone even is able to leave the place, the fog hides the rocks and other shipwrecks that could strand a traveling ships, which is the reason why it has been avoided and eventually left out of maps. Too many people went there and never came back." Was the principal's responds; he halted when he came across what he was looking for. He presented them with an old, faded and worn out map. It showed the location of several nearby islands that the modern maps, which were displayed around the room, did; the single key difference was that this map had one extra island. From the looks of it, the island appeared close enough to the island where the academy was that it could have easily been a one day trip and if this was said Candle Cove, would explain how quickly Willow got to the academy.

Just then Jacklyn entered the room, her face mirrored her frustration and she walked with brisk strides, "I might also have to purchase new equipment when I am on the mainland…" it was only then that she noticed the two young captains. "Oh, sorry I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"Oh it's alright, besides, I have heard some great news!" said the Principal as he handed the old map to Flinn before approaching his sister with a big, jolly smile. "The girl found this morning, she claims to be from Candle Cove!" at this Jacklyn was stunned, she had heard of people being able to travel to the island, but she had never heard of anyone being able to leave it. "Are you sure it is the same Candle Cove?"

"What other Candle Cover could there be within traveling distance? If Willow was able to leave that place, then that means…"

"Maybe she just got lucky, that doesn't mean we will be able to travel there and back in one piece, besides, she probably doesn't even remember us." She interrupted her brother, who by now had his hopes up and wouldn't be convinced of anything else.

"Who is she?" asked Alisea now interested; this was the one time that she had seen the principal and his sister having different opinions on the turn of events since the day she had met them both. Before Jacklyn was even able to utter a single word, her brother rushed over to his desk and pulled out a small photo from one of the desk's many draws; the photo was a small hand drawn image of a young girl, from the way it was drawn, she seemed to have shoulder length, light colored hair and very light colored eyes, her form was very petite and the light smile gave her face an angelic look, "It's a long story, but in short, our youngest brother Jonathan once moved to Candle Cove and married a local there; they had a little girl they named Janet, sadly my brother and his wife died of an illness and my sister and I were granted custody of little Janet, but because of the fog, we were unable to get her. I have been looking for a way to take her away from the island, but because of its infamous I couldn't get anyone to travel there and neither Jacklyn or I have the time to travel there ourselves since we have this academy to run."

"And now you think that because one young woman was able to leave the island that others will risk their lives to travel there?" Jacklyn knew she wouldn't be able to stop her brother from going out and looking for volunteers as soon as he could, but she could at least try to reach his common sense.

Alisea and Flinn looked at each other; they each knew what the other was thinking.


	10. Chapter 10

"We would volunteer!" Both the principal and the doctor were caught off guard when Flinn spoke; though his hopes were lifted, even the principal thought that this was too much to ask for from his model students. "We appreciate your offer, but it will still be dangerous and the two of you are still so young, let's have others, who have already seen the world go on this dangerous journey." Said the principal, this earned him an approving nod from his sister. "But we have already been through so many dangerous adventures, one more will not make much of a difference; besides, Willow is the only one who knows how to get to and from the island and she doesn't seem to trust just anybody." Said Alisea, it was true that Willow had a hard time trusting just anybody and, personally, she thought it was even a miracle that she even trusted her. Sadly, Jacklyn had a notion of what the young captain was going to ask, "I know what you want to ask, but no, I will not let you take the stranger with you. Something is wrong with her and she will not leave this island until I have found out what that is."

"She seemed alright to me, besides, I though you checked her over again." Alisea knew that the key for anyone to return from the island was Willow and if they wanted their niece, they would have to let them take Willow with them. "Yes I have reexamined her, and I still don't know how a stethoscope could go bad, but nevertheless something is wrong with her. I know that no one could be that dehydrated and be able to live. My decision is final, she is not leaving."

XXXXX

After many hours of trying to convince both the principal and the doctor, the two young captains had to call in defeat. Jacklyn refused to let go of Willow, despite the advantage of the mission being a success with Willow's presence and the principal refused to take the help of the two young captains and instead opted to find someone older to go on the journey. Outside, sitting on the steps of the main hall, the two young captains sulked over their defeat. "I still think we are the better choice." Complained Alisea while looking at the ground; part of her simply refused to give up, "I know, but what can we do? They made up their mind and it doesn't look like they will change it anytime soon." This gave Alisea a wicked idea. "Maybe we can go against their will?"

"And how are we going to get to and from the island? If the rumors are true, we might be able to find the girl, but we won't be able to get off the island."

"Maybe I could convince Willow to give us advice on what to look out for."

"You think we could make it?"

"We were able to survive Captain Joe, Espadon, Thomas and the El Skeleton; being able to navigate through fog and rocks should be manageable."

"Are you sure about that, after all, maybe it is better that someone else goes and finds her?"

At this Alisea turned to her companion and made full eye contact with him, "Don't you think it's a little odd that it was us who found Willow on the beach and that she woke up when the girls and I were with her and that she told me where she came from and that the place where she came from just happened to be the same island as where the missing girl is supposed to be. Personally, I think that those are a lot of coincidences." Flinn had to agree to this and deep down he felt that he had to help.

"I agree with you, but how are we going to find her? Even if we get advice on what to look out for, how will we know what the girl looks like? We only saw the image of her for a brief moment and I am starting to look her image in my head." Flinn was right, they had found out that she existed and where to look for her, but, with the short moment they had to look at the drawing of her they had little idea what she looked like, it also didn't help that the image was drawn with a light ink and had, just like the old map, started to fade. Neither did they possess the map with which to navigate with, so traveling to the island seemed next to impossible.

"But we can't just sit back and do nothing." Protested Alisea, the more impossible it seemed for them to embark on the mission, the more she wanted to go. It was like the haunting song of a siren was calling to her. Her pleading protests brought an idea to Flinn's mind that was just as wicked as Alisea's initial idea. "Maybe, just maybe we could 'borrow' the drawing and the map. The island looked close enough, so I don't think it would take us that long to sail there, a day at most if the wind is good. Then, if we add at least two days to find her and another full day to travel back, we might just make it back before anyone would miss us, the image and the map." His idea cheered her up for a brief moment, but that moment was quickly followed by harsh reality.

"You do know that if we get caught, we could get expelled; are you really willing to risk everything you have worked for to help find this Janet?" Alisea's concerns were genuine; she could always return to her father and return to her life before the academy, but from everything she knew of Flinn, he had worked his whole life to become a captain, and getting expelled would destroy everything he has worked for. "I know of the consequences, but I feel that the opportunity to help outweighs getting expelled; besides, you really look like you have your mind set on this, I want to be able to help you if you need it" he said smiling at her; they had been through several, dangerous adventures and he wasn't about to let her go on such an uncertain journey on her own. This earned him a smile and a tight hug from his sweetheart.

"Thanks, I knew I could always count on you."

He smiled back at her, "Now how about we get the ships ready, we might only be taking one and only Willow would know which one would be the best to navigate through fog and rocks, but it's better to be prepared."

"Plus we need to wait until one of us can sneak into the principal's office and get the drawing and the map." Added Alisea as they got up off the steps with new found energy.

"I'll go and sneak into his office when he is gone; Willow seems to be more open to you so I think it is better you go and ask her for advice on how to leave the island. After we have the advice, the map and the drawing we set sails and get out of the harbor before daybreak. This will buy us a little extra time." Suggested Flinn and Alisea was quick to agree. As fast as their legs could carry them the two young captains made their way to their ships to inform their crew of their plans to recover Janet.


	11. Chapter 11

Insane, ludicrous and downright crazy were just a few of the descriptive words Flinn's crew used to describe the plan he and Alisea had come up with; Pablo even went as far as threatening to inform his grandfather, which was something he rarely ever did, but his crew knew that arguing with him would be a waste of time and that informing Captain Triton would only delay the plan being put into action and wouldn't halt it altogether. After several hours of discussion, he was finally able to convince his crew to help him and Alisea sail all the way to and from Candle Cove with the limitations that would only stay a few days and that Pablo, who knew of the island and its infamous legend, could stay on the ship while the rest went on land. Once dawn settled over the island of the academy and most of its inhabitance had gone to bed; Flinn made met with Alisea at the docs while their crews worked as quickly and quietly as they could on their ships and just as quietly as the crew worked, the two young captains made their way through the now empty streets. At the hospital cabin, the two split and Flinn continued his way to the principal's office on his own while Alisea tried to quietly sneak into the cabin.

Alone at this hour Flinn, though no longer a child, still felt uneasy; the night was chilled compared to the day and only the light of the waxing moon and stars gave him enough light to see. Every noise gave him the feeling of being watched and followed; twice he stopped and looked around, sure he had just heard someone whisper something, but it was too dark and he was too unsure if he had correctly heard it or if it was just in his head.

After a few more minutes of walking around in the dark, Flinn finally made it to the main building. At night, the halls, which were usually buzzing with life, were as quiet as a grave; which did little to calm Flinn's raw nerves. When he came to the door of the principal's office, he was disappointed to see that a light was still on. He took a quick look through the keyhole to see how long he might have to wait before he could sneak in and get the image and the map. To his luck, the office was deserted. Looking both ways to make sure no one, though he was sure no one was even awake at this point, was in the halls and could spot him. Since the door was unlocked and a lamp was still burning, he was sure the principal only went out for a few moments and would be back at any time. Finding the map was easy since the principal had a nice for organizing and rarely ever misplaced anything and sure as the sky was blue; the map was back in the same position it was in when he had first seen the principal pull it from the shelf. Finding the drawing, however, proved to be a little harder since, unlike the map, he hadn't quite seen out of which draws he took the drawing from. It took him a solid ten minutes to look through most of the drawers and their content to find the small, hardly half the size of a piece of paper, sized canvas with the drawing of the young Janet; just as he was closing the drawer, he heard the door handle being pressed down and the door slowly opening, both of which created a light creaking sound.

Flinn's breath caught in his throat and he quickly dove under the desk and hopped, whoever it was, wouldn't find him. Judging by the heavy footfalls and how familiar they seemed to be with their environment, Flinn was sure that it was the principal. From his hiding place, he could hear the principal placing books and other documents back on the shelves; he quietly hoped the principal wouldn't notice the missing map. When the footsteps came closer to the desk and where Flinn was hidden, he could feel his heartbeat going fast, which it usually only did when he was around Alisea. He was sure that at any moment, the principal would become aware of his presence and find him; thankfully, he didn't, but took the lamp with him out of the room and locked his office door behind him, effectively trapping Flinn in the office.

He tried over and over to pick the lock, once he was sure the principal was gone, but simply couldn't get it to open. This was no surprise to Flinn since he had once heard that this office was one of the most secure rooms at the academy because of all the important maps, books, and documents. He was certain that by now Alisea had gotten advice from Willow and was now waiting for him back at the docks. He gave the door a few more tries before giving up and setting his attention on the windows; he knew that it would be quite a jump from the office window to the ground below and that if he messed up in the slightest, that he could seriously hurt himself and endanger the mission, but at this point he knew that it was the only way out. Releasing the window latch and looking out, he realized it was slightly higher off the ground than he expected and that, once he got out and to the ground, he wouldn't be able to close the window and he was sure the principal would notice that, but he knew this was his only way out and he took it. With one deep breath, he jumped from the window; the short moment of pure weightlessness was quickly followed, but the sensation of hitting something hard. Pain ran from his right knee up his spine and into his head and he was sure he had heard something pop, but he didn't waste any time thinking of his injuries and tried his best to simply walk off the pain.

XXXXX

Alisea tried her best not to make a single sound as she opened the hospital cabin door; she didn't know whether or not Jacklyn would be there. She knew the doctor had a small bedroom on the second floor of the cabin, but she had once heard that Jacklyn preferred to sleep at her desk by the hospital beds whenever she had a patient. The cabin was dark except for the pale blue light from the moon shining through the windows, but it was still light enough to see that the desk was deserted. She walked quietly and tried to avoid each and every floor board that she thought might creak; when she was about halfway from the door and the bed where she knew Willow lay, she heard a quiet voice behind her say, "What do you want at this hour?" Alisea turned around, fully expecting to see the doctor glaring at her, luckily it was Willow. She had, throughout the day, gained her strength to walk and now stood there, in the shadow between two windows. Alisea wondered how she had managed to sneak up behind her, since there wouldn't have been any space behind the door when it was open and because she hadn't seen anyone when she scanned the room, and why she would be up and about this late at night. "Willow, you are awake?"

"I couldn't sleep, sorry for scaring you. What are you doing here?" asked Willow, leading Alisea to sit with her on the bed; she could feel the young captain shaking a little under her touch. Alisea, on the other hand, marveled at how cold Willow's skin felt. "Flinn and I are on a mission. The principal and the doctor have a niece whom they have to take care for; the problem is the young girl can't get off the island she was born on; which happens to be the one you came from."

"You are going to Candle Cove?" Willow was shocked and her voice carried through the room; Alisea panicked a little and clamped her hand over Willow's mouth. Upstairs they could hear the doctor turn in her bed; thankfully, she didn't get up. "Yes we are, we heard rumors that the island is covered by fog and surrounded by sharp rocks; I came to you because you are the only one who so far was able to leave that island. I need to know how you did it."

"It's too late for her, it's too late for anyone who ever was born or went to that island. It will be too late for you to if you go there. Please, stay here with me and forget that island." Willow tried to wrap her arms around Alisea to hold her close like a child that is having a fit, but Alisea had other plans. "Willow," she looked deep into her new friend's eyes in a very serious manner, "no matter what you say will change my mind; I will go to that island to find the girl. All I wanted to know is how you left that island; it would have made getting there and leaving it a lot easier."

Willow didn't want to hear a word of it and tried, again, to wrap her arms around her. "I was lucky that is all; if you go there, you won't have that much luck-"Willow was cut off by Alisea placing her hand over her mouth again. Upstairs they could hear the doctor groan in her sleep; again they were lucky and she did not wake up. "Fine," whispered Alisea as she got up off the bed and quietly made her way to the door, "if you won't help me, we will go on our own. "Wait." Willow jumped up and rushed to her friend; she took a deep breath and looked to the ground. "Fine, I will tell you, but I first want to see the ship you plan on taking."

Alisea smiled, took Willow by the hand and led her to the harbor.

XXXXX

Thomas's companions tried to repeatedly persuade him from acting out his latest scheme. His plan was to sneak onboard the Eldorado and set sails in the early hours of the morning. He had no plans to work as the janitor's helper for who-knows how long and he knew that he couldn't simply go home because if he did, he would most certainly be put to jail for his crimes. Followed by the two monsters, he made his way through the dark and empty streets to the harbor. He was about to turn onto the main street that led to the harbor when he caught sight of someone familiar. Quickly he pushed Zorion and Rolfo back into the shadows of the alley they were in and tried not to make a sound. "What is it?" whispered the giant lobster and Zorion quickly clamped one of his clawed hands over the monster's tentacle-like mouth. Thomas looked out onto the main street and froze when he saw Flinn turn and look around; thankfully he didn't see them. Thomas wondered what the young captain was doing out on the streets this late at night, but dismissed the thought to focus on his plan. Once Flinn was down two more blocks, the group made their way down the streets. Thomas looked over his shoulder and noticed Flinn slowly turning around again; quickly he pushed the two monsters into another alley. Again they were lucky and they weren't spotted. When Thomas saw that Flinn left, he and his companions continued on their way. Once at the harbor, Zorion asked why they didn't simply take the boat at night while everyone is asleep.

"Because they might be on the ship and we have no idea what Alisea's new crew is like, it is better we sneak on now and wait until morning when they are too busy to expect us and would probably not even be on the ship." Answered Thomas as they quietly made their way through the dark and quiet hall that led to the cargo hulk; being tired from the journey to the academy and from the lack of sleep to sneak onto the Eldorado, the three troublemakers lay down on some sacks of sand and rolls of rope and quickly fell asleep.

XXXXX

Without having noticed the three troublemakers, Alisea and Willow stood before the two ships. Willows' nails were digging into Alisea's arm as they waited. "What are we waiting for?" asked Willow quietly almost as if expecting someone to find them, even though everyone was asleep at this time at night. "I want Flinn to be there when you tell us which ship you want us to use."

After a few more minutes they saw a figure limping its way towards them; Willow's grip tightened and Alisea grew a little uneasy, "Who are you?" she called quietly, fully expecting some stranger wanting to know what they were doing up so late at night. "It's me." Answered Flinn as he came within a distance that they could clearly see each other, "What happened to you?" Alisea was worried, not just because their mission might be in danger, but because she was worried that he might have seriously hurt himself. "I got locked in the principal's office by accident and had to jump out the window, I'll be fine, just landed a little bad when I jumped. You got advice?"

Alisea sidestepped to show that Willow was with her, "She wanted to see what type of ship we were going to use."

Once Flinn joined them, Willow turned to look at the ships. One was of a light colored wood and had a wide hulk while the other was of a darker wood and was slim in build.

She pointed at the Eldorado.

"Neither ship will be able to get you guys up to the island itself, but that one will get you the closest. The color of the wood will help you blend into the fog and its slender build will help you navigate through the maze of rocks in the water, however, you will have to take a side boat to get the land itself." She turned and spoke only to Alisea, despite Flinn standing right beside her. "On the west side of the island, there is a small pass where the rocks are a little duller and they are a bit further apart from each other. I found it a month before I left and used it to get away, I didn't care where I went or if I would even make it out. I would recommend you guys use that passageway during high tide."

"Thank you, Willow, that will really help us." Said Alisea and offered her hand "Need help getting back to the hospital cabin?" Willow only shook her head, "Thanks, but I will be fine on my own; the two of you should get some rest, your journey won't be easy." With that, Willow quietly left them.

Unknown to them, Willow had not intended to go back to the hospital. Out of sight, she waited until the two captains had boarded the Eldorado before slowly and quietly making her way back. She waited until she knew they were asleep, at this point the night was slowly fading to daylight. Using what little she knew about ships, Willow made her way through the ship's dark hallways until she found a small, dark, closet-like room. Closing the door behind her, she waited for the journey to start. She wasn't going to let Alisea go to Candle Cove on her own.

Unlike Alisea, she knew how dangerous that island was.


	12. Chapter 12

Just before dawn the crew of the Aurora awoke and, on captain's orders, boarded the Eldorado. The ship had left harbor before daybreak and was well over the horizon by the time Dr. Jacklyn awoke to check on her patient; when she realized Willow was no longer in bed, or in the hospital cabin for that matter, she ran outside hoping that she hadn't gotten far. Not seeing her anywhere close-by, she ran to her brother to inform her, only to find him wandering around his office like he had lost something. "I have some bad news."

"So do I sister, what are you missing?"

"The patient is gone and I can't find her." Jacklyn contemplated how Willow could have left since she could even move her legs when she had gone to bed; either she had gained the ability to walk in one night, someone took her or Willow had been lying to her about being able to move her legs. "What are you missing?" she asked, slowly getting a notion of what happened.

"I am missing a map and the image of Janet, do you think?"

"I'm sure they did this, they seemed so persistent yesterday to get the mission."

"But how did they get in here? I locked the door and the door was locked when I got here this morning."

Jacklyn looked around the room. She knew there weren't any other doors. She then noticed the light breeze and walked to the window; as she did, a gust of wind blew it open. "Either they found a way to open the window from the outside or you accidentally locked one in." the principal walked over and looked out the window at the ground below. "Wouldn't they have hurt themselves?"

Jacklyn backed away from the window and started running out the office and to the harbor, "Most likely!" her brother rushed after her, ignoring the worried looks of other students in the hallway as they rushed past them. Once at the harbor, Jacklyn let out a wale of frustration and anger: frustrated because she should have checked the harbor first angry because she thought she could trust the runaway students; she knew better, only now is too late. Noticing her brother running up behind her, she turns to him "We are too late, by the looks of it, they been gone for a while."

"It's not your fault Jacklyn, I too thought they would do as we ordered them; and then again, they are graduated pirates…" the principal almost jumped out of his skin when a cold hand grabbed his shoulder, only to turn and see the weathered, gray-bearded face of the janitor scowling at him. The janitor's name was Roger; he had been with the academy for many years and had originally studied to become a pirate, sadly he had found out after a few training days that his sea sickness would prevent him from ever fulfilling his dream. He joined in order to be as close as he could to his former dream. "They never showed up!" he grunted at the principal, showing his teeth which were yellow, at least those that were left, for he had lost most of them do to poor care. He had most of his molars missing and four of his upper front teeth; on his lower jaw, he was missing two. This formed a "T" shape whenever he smiled, which wasn't very often.

"Pardon?"

"Those traitors you promised you'd send to me never showed up for their job. I waited all morning and they never showed up. I went to their rooms and they weren't there. You promised me that I would get help in keeping this place spick and span, now where is my help?" the janitor's breath smelled of liquor and old meat and the nauseating smell caused both the principal and the doctor to take a step back.

"We are sorry Roger, I'll go and check with the security." With that the principal was off, leaving his sister behind with the angry janitor.

"What a charmer, leaving you with me." Growled Roger as he looked at the horizon. "So, why are you here instead of the hospital where you belong?"

"I could ask you why you are with me instead of being at the tavern, but if you must know; we have some of our students and a patient missing. My brother and I have a feeling of where they went."

"And, where did they run off to?"

Jacklyn hesitated for a bit; she knew the legend and so did Roger most likely, "First I want to know, how much do you know about a certain island?"

"That depends on what island you are talking about, I have studied them all pretty much."

"Then tell me everything you know about an island called Candle Cove."

Roger smiled, "Oh is that where the young ones ran off to. If that is the case, then they won't come back. They are as good as dead."

"If they went there or not is not important. Tell me everything you know about that island."

"Well, Candle Cove was only part of a greater island called Wysteria, but an earthquake did darn broke it apart. After several years, Wysteria sunked into the ocean and Candle Cove remained. From what records did told me, it was once a very prosperous fish and trading facility. Then, one day, a mysterious fog rolled came and covered the entire island and 'nother earthquake caused the appearance of rock formations off its coast. Because of the thickness of the fog and the constant movin' rocks, several ships wrecked on their way to the island. Also, no one has ever been able to leave that place either; think of it as limbo on earth. If you get there, you ain't never leave."

"Except for yesterday when apparently someone from that island had found their way to this academy."

"Impossible," Roger snarled, "No one ever gets to leave Candle Cove."

"She seemed to have used a log to make her way through the rock maze and then used the storm to get even further away." Jacklyn smiled at the janitor's shocked expression, "A ship might not make it through the maze of rocks, but a single person on a log with a little luck might."

"A lot of luck, the current would have smashed her against the rocks."

"Fine then, a lot of luck. But that doesn't change the fact that someone from that island was here. Now she is gone. I theorize that she went with the Eldorado."

"If she was so hell-bent on getting' off that bloody island as to risk her life, why would she willingly go back?"

"Either she felt that she had to help the Eldorado, or she was kidnapped. Since I don't think the crew would be that monstrous, I believe she went free willingly."

"And what about those three rats?" asked Roger, he then coughed up a glob of gunk and spat it onto the floor.

"If they are not on the island, they left."

"Probably kidnapped the crew of the Eldorado!" Roger gained a foul smile, the way he always did when he thought he was right about a person's character. Which he seldom was.

"How could three people kidnap a crew of eight plus a passenger? Even if they attacked them in their sleep, someone would have woken up and called alarm."

"Don't underestimate monsters," He then pointed to a scar on his face which there was many of, "a monster did this to me face by accident while I was swipin' the floor. Hit my right in the face with its tail he did. If they can do that by accident, imagine what they can do if they put their minds to it."

"I patched that one up for you and as far as I remember, you didn't get that from a monster," she crossed her arms and smiled, "unless with "monster" you mean bottle of liquor and with "its tail" you main falling down a set of stairs and hitting you face against a glass door?"

Roger growled at her like a rapit dog, showing off his disgusting teeth once more, "Correcting people like that ain't gonna win yah any friends. Will bring yah nice enemies, though."

Before Jacklyn could open her mouth to tell the nasty man off, her brother came running back. He was out of breath from running; his face was red and his beard had begun to curl and tangle from his sweat.

"They are gone, no one has reported seeing them leave their quarters this morning!" he gasped, grabbing a handkerchief out of his coat pocket to wipe his face.

"Roger and I have thought of the idea that they might have snuck aboard the Eldorado as it left, they are sneaky and are probably waiting for a chance to run off."

"I am tellin' yah that darn did kidnap the crew. Poor bastards are sleepin' with the fish by now I bet."

"Now Roger, they might be traitors, but they are not killers. Besides, even if Thomas was hell-bent on revenge, the other two wouldn't have it in them to commit such a hideous act."

"Sleepin' with the fishes I'm tellin' yah." He waved one of his bony fingers at the doctor before walking off, his feet dragging the ground as he did.

"We will find replacement help for you!" the principal called after Roger, but he most likely couldn't hear them over the sound of his own mumbling. With a sigh, the principal turned to his sister, "So what do you think we should do?"

"Going after them might not help. I guess we are just going to have to wait."

"For how long?"

"I'll give them three days, then we report the incident to their families."


	13. Chapter 13

The current crew of the Eldorado hadn't had much time to enjoy the warmth and brightness of the sun for shortly after a quarter till noon, they noticed a fog starting to surround them that only got thicker as time went on. With the fog came the faint smell of mildew and something else. It was something familiar, but nothing the crew could identify off the top of their head. By the time noon arrived, it was as dark as night. The fog so was thick they could hardly see an arm' length in front of them; the crew practically worked blind and an eerie silence seems to spread all over the ship. Even when one of the two captains tried to shout a command, it still seemed like they had lost their voice and were whispering; their voices not carrying through the fog.

"I hope we will be able to find that small passage Willow was talking about." Said, Flinn, as he turned to Alisea, through the fog she looked ghostly blurred to him. With the crew being even further away, it almost felt to him like they were in a world of their own. "I am sure we will, Myri is out on the lookout at the front, I told her to warn us as quickly as she can when she spots the rocks."

"You think she will be able to reach us in time?"

"She always has this far," Alisea smiled confidently; to Flinn, every movement seemed to have slowed down and even the speech was sluggish to his ears.

"How is your leg doing today?"

"It's alright" he lied, his leg still felt like someone was jabbing a knife into it whenever he moved it, but he wasn't going to let anyone know it; he figured it would only stop the mission.

"You never really told me why you got into a fight with Thomas." Mentioned Alisea trying to fight the uncomfortable chill the fog was giving her and she felt that talking might help against it.

"To be quite honest, he insulted you and the comment he main made me feel like I had to defend you; I guess remembering everything he has done and then the insult made me snap. I promise it won't happen again" he smiled at her before gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Smiling back at him she took a step closer to him; he, in turn, put his arm around her, he could feel her lightly shiver. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," she replied, "the fog is just unsettling."

Undenounced to them, two figures slipped out from under the deck.

XXXXX

Thomas awoke when he fell off his pile of bags onto the hard, dark wooden floor; at first, he thought he was dreaming or sick when he felt the ground sway. He hadn't heard anything about the Eldorado setting sail anytime soon, so the ground shouldn't be moving. Especially since the harbor never produced any waves hard enough to move the ships. This meant that either that the ship had set sails against schedule or there was another storm. Unable to wake his comrades, he decided to venture out onto the deck on his own. He presumed it was still dark outside since he hadn't seen any light shining in through the port hole. Stepping into the hallway, he noticed a faint smell of mildew had filled the ship. Creeping onto deck he becomes engulfed in the thick, blinding fog. "Damn, where did they take this ship? I can't see where I am going." He whispered to himself as he carefully took one step at a time. From somewhere in the distance he could hear the two captains talking to each other so he figured that the others weren't too far away, but he was sure that they couldn't see him. Using the side rails to navigate his way around the ship he tried to continue walking through the thick fog.

He stopped when he reached the loading area; the sound of the ocean splashing against the hulk was even closer here than anywhere else on the ship and he realized how close he was to falling off. If he did, no one could help him in this fog. From behind him came an unfamiliar voice.

"Are you Thomas?"

XXXXX

After what felt like hours to her, Willow stepped out of the closet and into the dark hallway. The faint familiar smell of mildew and decay brought back the memories of her time on the island. Looking ahead she saw someone slipping out onto the deck. Quietly she followed it out; as she opened the fog wisped around her and she stepped into the fog without being seen, but she could see everything clear as day. She walked onto the fog covered deck and looked around, a light smile on her lips as she looked at the crew acting like the blind as they slowly felt their way through their work. Looking at the wheel of the ship, she saw her Alisea smiling at that boy again. She could find a reason why her friend liked that boy so much, but she felt that one day she will understand.

She took a step closer when she heard the two mentions the fight that happened yesterday. Her blood began to heat up when she heard what the boy had to say about this Thomas. For a short moment, she applauds the blue-haired boy for standing up for Alisea. Noticing Thomas walking at the side rail as blind as the rest, she quietly followed the young man. It was so easy keeping up with him; he was so frail looking when he took hold of the rail and walked as slow as a child learning how to walk. When he stopped she had to keep herself from acting out too soon. Just to make sure, she spoke up. "Are you Thomas?"

XXXXX

Thomas turned around to see the young women from the hospital cabin; her red hair and green eyes were almost glowing in the thick fog. Her smile gave him more of an unnerving feeling than the fog.

"Um, yes, why do you ask?"

He took a step back and let go of the rail when her unnerving smile grew and her eyes seemed to glare into his soul. Deep down he had a feeling this woman wasn't completely right in the head. "Are you alright?" he heard his voice starting to tremble.

"Oh, I will be." She took hold of him by the shoulders and, with a quick jerk, threw him over the loading area.


	14. Chapter 14

He could not scream fast enough, with one quick jerk she had thrown him overboard. Odd, she did not look like she was strong enough to do so, but that was not important, he was able to think and react fast enough to hang onto the edge of the loading area. Digging his nails into the wood, he looks for a way out, but not seeing one he knew he had to let the crew know he was there. He knew it would result in him put in the ships small prison, he knew that they would probably find the others and lock them up too, and he knew that they would most likely hand him over to the nearest jail, but his life was more important to him. "Help!" He cried out at the top of his lungs. His heart began to race and his figures began to lose their grip, "Help, man over board" he hopped they would make it to him on time; he looked up and saw the women standing on the edge, she was looking down at him and the smile was still on her face. From somewhere in the fog he could hear the crew running towards him. He was surprised when the women who had just seconds ago had thrown him overboard, kneeled down, trapped his wrist, and started to try to pull him up.

XXXXX

She felt so happy when he was out of her sight, to her Alisea had been avenged. She was surprised when she had not heard a splash of water; looking over the edge, she saw him hanging on for dear life. He looked even more helpless hanging there. Kind of like a kitten hanging from a tree branch. She contemplated whether to kick his hands to speed up the presumed inevitable, or to just wait and let gravity take over. Sadly, she had to changer her plans when she heard him scream and the crew starting to respond. She knew she would not be able to make it back to her hiding area before anyone saw her; also it would be useless to even try since she was sure they were would search the entire ship if they believed him. Going against every desire to see him go away, she kneeled down and pretended to try to save him. She had no real intention and hopped to make it appear that she had tried and failed. Sadly, not even that plan worked since the crew made it to their location in time, despite the fog. One of the first responders, a girl with green eyes and blond hair whom she remembered as Myri, grabbed hold of Thomas's other hand and together, though willow tried to make as little effort as possible, they pulled him back on deck. Willow quickly noticed how shocked and angry the young women appeared to be when she realized whom she had just helped to save. Clearly, it wasn't just the captain Alisea; this man had angered many more.

XXXXX

Myri, who knew the ship like the back of her hand, hadn't hesitated when she heard the call for help. Despite the deafening characteristic of the fog, she could locate that the call came from the loading area. She wasn't surprised; in the fog, it would be easy to mistake the opening for just another portion of the rail. When she got there, she was a little surprised to see Willow. She hadn't thought about her much since the incident at the hospital cabin and had only half listened to the instruction the captains had recited. She assumed that Willow must have changed her mind last minute and either Flinn or Alisea had provided her with a place to stay in the ship, since she hadn't seen her when she woke up. Nevertheless, she pushed her surprise to the back of her mind and reached down to help whomever the young woman was holding onto. Pulling the person back on board was a little challenging; she assumed that Willow was still too weak to be of much help. This only raised the question as to why the captains would let someone onboard that could hardly even stand on her own. Once the person who had fallen over board was back on deck, she wished she had not helped Willow. "What are you doing here?" she growled as she looked down at Thomas's panicked face.

"She pushed me overboard!" Thomas pointed his finger at the young women with crimson hair. At last, the rest of the crew made their way to the scene; all gasped when they saw both Willow and Thomas.

"Thomas, what are you doing here?" asked Flinn as he placed one hand on the hilt of him sword. He was ready to fight if he needed to.

"I guess there is no point in lying now." Thomas knew he was defeated once more. "I wanted to sneak on board, wait until all of you were gone and then take the ship and sail into the horizon."

"Where are the others?" asked Alisea, she knew that Thomas was not the type to work alone, he always found someone to do his dirty work.

"Down in the cargo hulk." He looked down at the ground; he now wished he had fallen into the ocean. He hated loosing, especially to his old foes. He scowled as an octopus, a seahorse and Shill ran underdeck; he knew he would not see Zorion and Rolfo on deck anytime soon. Being pulled up on his feet by Pablo, he let himself be lead to the cell.

XXXXX

After the initial shock of seeing Thomas on board had worn off and Thomas was on his way to be locked up, she turned her attention to Willow. "What are you doing here?"

Myri turned to Alisea in surprise, "Wait, so you didn't know she was on board?" she only received a shake of the head as an answer.

"I snuck on board to make sure you are safe, Candle Cove is a very dangerous even for its locals. I was worried you would never come back." Her voce shook a little and she took a step closer to Alisea. "I thought I could convince you to return home, but you sounded so determined, the least I could do was guide you."

"Then why did you not tell me, sneaking on board a ship is very illegal. If someone else found you and thought you were a threat, they could have hurt you." Alisea stepped closer to her friend and gently placed a hand on her trembling shoulder. "I am not angry at you, but I am worried that you could have gotten seriously hurt. What if you fell overboard in this fog? No one would even know to look for you since no one knew you were even on board.

"I am sorry Alisea, but I was scared you might not want me here since I am so weak."

"Weak? Being weak would not have stopped any of us to let you on the ship; you simply would have been a passenger." Alisea pulled Willow into a short hug. From over Willow's shoulder, Alisea could see Flinn pointing to the door that lead under deck and mouthing the message that he will check to see if the stow-away have been taken care of.

"Thomas said you pushed him over-board." Mentioned Myri with suspicion underlining her voice something simply did not feel right about the whole situation.

"Myri, those accusations are very hurtful." Alisea felt she had to stand up for her friend who was still shaking.

"Then how come she was right there when he fell?"

"Why would I do that to someone I do not even know? I got on deck and followed the railing because I could not see anything. I saw him ahead and I thought I could ask him where Captain Alisea was when I saw him loose his grip and fall."

"Sounds logical to me." Said Alisea, Myri bit her tong and nodded in understanding; keeping her thoughts to herself. Deep down she felt something was wrong with Willow, she simply could not point out what it was.

"Now, how about you come with me and help us lead this ship safely as close as possible to the island." With a nod, Willow followed her new friend to the wheel.

The rest of the crew returned to their duties; Myri still thought that Willow was out of place.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, the three stow-away have been locked up with Pablo holding the keys to the small jail cell. Flinn reached the cell in time to see Pablo feathering the keys to his belt. "Are they properly locked up?"

"Should be, and I am making sure these keys are well out of their reach." With that, the ape walked back on deck; Flinn turned his attention onto the three crooks, "What were you three thinking?"

"We wanted to get away from the punishment that was waiting for us back at the Academy." Zorion answered for them. He knew the others would only ruin this chance to redeem themselves. "They didn't have a real place for us to go back there and we can't return to Monster Island, we would be put to jail there. We were hoping we could simply take this ship and run for it." This earned him a scowl from Thomas, but he did not care anymore at this point. "Well, I am sorry to hear that, but you three can't stop making bad decisions. Running off into the sunset, would not have resolved anything, your actions would have simply followed you to wherever you are going." Flinn stepped away from the cage and took in the view. All he saw was three people who have made bad decisions based on wrong upbringing. He knew Thomas hated being given orders from women, which was the sole reason he betrayed Alisea and he knew that Rolfo and Zorion were never taught to be loyal. They only knew to follow the strongest leader. They must have seen Thomas as a stronger leader then Alisea since Thomas was not concerned about heling others. He also would not have risked his life to safe another like Alisea had.

Flinn's train of thought was interrupted when he heard Myri's voice from above yelling "Land ahoy!"


	15. Chapter 15

Myri shouted land ahoy as soon as she spotted something that looked like rocks. Though the soupy fog severely stunted her vision, she trusted her instincts when she saw something in the distance. Her instincts were never wrong. They always steered her in the right direction, made her choose the best decisions, and helped her choose whom she held around her. Her instincts were right about Thomas's character and were right about the danger her and her friends were in when they encountered the carnivorous plants. She was sure that her instincts were telling her to stay far away from Willow and to keep her friends as far away from Willow as well.

As soon as she had uttered these words, the already busy crew scrambled to drop the anchor so they bring up the sails to slow down. Eventually coming to a stop just before they reached the thicker rocky barrier between them and the main land, they had been able to avoided most of the former rocks, but the water became more and more crowded with them.

"Alisea, can you bring Willow over here? I think we have reached the limits this ship can travel." Shouted Myri, her voice hardly penetrating the thick fog and her eyes began to sting from trying to concentrate her vision through the fog.

Trying to navigate through the thick fog, Alisea tried hard not to stumble over anything or crash and startle any of the other crewmembers. She looked behind her a few time to make sure Willow was still following her. To her surprise, Willow seemed to have little difficulty navigating through the fog. Her eyes were set straight ahead, a light smile on her face, and her stride was smooth, almost as if she was walking through a deserted street on a warm spring day instead of a thick fog on a moving ship. Alisea could feel herself jump a little when Willows eyes settled on her.

"Is everything alright Alisea?"

"Umm, yeah, just worried about you, are you alright? Do you need me to help you?" she extended one hand to Willow, who gladly took it. She did not feel like Willow would need it, but something compelled her to offer help. When they finally reach the front of the ship, Willow was the one leading Alisea. To the young captain, Willow's hand felt soft, warm, and comforting. If she ever had the chance to meet her own mother, Alisea was sure that this is how her hand would feel.

"Here we are!" announced Alisea through the fog. Part of her was afraid that Myri might not see them. "Great, could you get Willow to join me on the bowsprit? I need to ask her if we are at the right location."

Holding Willow by the hand, Alisea guided her from the main portion of the ship to the bowsprit. The swaying of the ship made footing for an obvious land-hugger such as Willow difficult and twice she almost lost her balance.

"Willow, can you tell us if this is the right place to be? I can't see the path you mentioned to Alisea."

"It is a little difficult to see, but if you come from this place, like I do, you can distinguish the different distances and patterns." After taking another, closer look, she points to no particular spot. "There is the entrance to the path."

"I don't see anything." Retorted Myri as she strained her eyes to spot the pattern or entrance that Willow was talking about, but only seeing rocks, water, and fog.

"You'll see well once we are closer to the ocean level. Looking from above like this is not going to show much." With that advice, Willow made her way back to Alisea and assured her that they were on the right course, but that they could not go any further with the ship. When Flinn was informed, he quickly made the decision that Pablo, Floe, Lulu, and Donnie would remain on the ship to ensure that Thomas and his comrades would not escape. Within minutes, Alisea, Myri, Shill, Flinn, and Willow settled in a side boat and made their way to the main land with Willow as their guide. With Willow guiding them through the maze of rocks jutting out of the water it took them only about an hour to reach the main land. The fog was even thicker lower to the water then it was back on the ship, almost as if the clouds had fallen from the sky and were resting on the water. The air was heavy and therefore difficult to breath and all the normal sounds of the ocean were muted, as if the fog had clouded their ears. A few times, their small boat scrapped against some of the rocks as they made their way through them. "Be more careful, unless you wish to join the dead at the bottom of this rift." Hissed Willow as the boat once more scrapped against a rock. "You think we like doing this on purpose." At this point Myri had enough of Willow's constant hissing and mistrust against all but Alisea. "It is not like we enjoy the thought of sinking to the bottom? Now quit your hissing and simply tell us the way."

"I would not need to tell you the way, if you did not want to get to this cursed place!"

"Then why did you come with us? We could have made our way on our own. After all, we have been through worse!"

"You would have died or gone missing or be forced to stay on that island, just like everyone else who has ever gone there."

"Wait, people have gone missing or have even died on that island?" asked Alisea in shock, she had heard of people never returning from the island, but she simply assumed that all those who have ventured to Candle Cove have simply never been able to leave because of the sharp rocks surrounding the island.

"Yes, people go missing and die on that island. It is one of the many reasons I did not want you to go there, but you did not listen to me. You guys better start counting all your blessings, if you wish to get off this place. For me getting off was pure hell and I wished I would never return. Don't you guys understand that I am as good as dead?"

"What do you mean by that, is someone after you?"

"In a way…" by now Willow had gotten off her high horse and coward as far from the group as possible. " I left because I knew I would be next to go, now that I am going back, he will find me."

"Who will find you?" asked Shill, feeling like he had to add his voice in the mix.

"I am I have pretty much sold myself to. I do not wish to talk about it. It would only bring him closer to finding me."

Alisea sat there quietly for a minute, mulling everything over in her mind. It was too late to go back to the academy now and it was too late to bring Willow back to the ship. Now they had to go to the island and take Willow with them. Thinking on her feet, she let go of her oar, took off her jacket and hat, and handed them to her friend in distress. "Here, maybe if you disguise yourself, he will have a harder time finding you." This, of course, warranted a few odd looks from her friends, but she did not care how she looked in front of them. She had another friend to take care of.

With Willow now in disguise, the five finally reached the gray, damp, and foggy shore of Candle Cove.


	16. Chapter 16

Like the sand on the shores of Candle Cove, the rest of the island was damp, gray, foggy, and above all gravely quiet. The fog was just as thick here as it was back in the boat; this made all the buildings of this harbor set town look like murky silhouettes in a pond. Even once, they have gotten into the small town; their sight did not get any better. The group could only clearly see any building that they were either right in front of or right next to; anything further than the length of one of the small buildings was already hidden in the fog. "It is almost like we are in a different world." Commented Shill, he tried to see if he could view anything at the end of the block they were on, but horribly failing.

"It does not help that we are seemingly the only people out on the road." Added Alisea, she was right, since their arrival they have not come across another human being or anything living at all for that matter. There was not even the sound of birds; perhaps there were not any on the island. "Is it always this quiet, Willow?" Flinn asked the young women closely following Alisea. "Has been for as long as I can remember. I recommend finding a place to stay right about now. You won't be able to make it back to the ship on time and this island is very dangerous at night." Her eyes shifted from one side to another, obviously keeping watch.

Taking out a small pocket watch out of her jacket, Myri send a questioning look towards Will. "But it is only 3:30 in the afternoon. We should still have plenty of time."

"I have lived here for several years, I know when the sun sets here, and it is much earlier than where you are from."

"Let's do what she says, besides, we might meet some locals who could help us find Janet, since she too is a local." suggested Flinn, hopping Willow would stop giving him those evil glairs if he would agree to something she is saying.

With no success.

"But it does not make sense; the sun rises and falls normal everywhere on the planet. Wouldn't it be more useful if we look around as much as possible now and make use of the small time we have?" insisted Myri which only earned her another glare from Willow. "Please, Myri, we are strangers here. Also, just because the laws of nature exist does not mean that all places follow them. After all, we were on an upside down island once." Alisea placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. Myri gave up trying to push the group on and let their guide lead them to an inn that was just a little further down the street.

Completely swallowed by the fog.

On the weathered sign outside the old building said, in an almost illegible writing, Gray's Inn. The inside was not much better than the outside. Though there was a raging fire burning in the parlor's fireplace, the inn felt cold and dark. In a way it was. The years of sitting in the fog had dampened the entire structure to the point where it would not have surprised anyone that, if someone were to punch a hole in the wall, a small stream would emerge. The lighting was poor as well, despite several light candles and the large fire, the entryway was no brighter than the outside.

At the front desk sat an ancient looking woman. Though she might have once been beautiful, now she is less than s shadow of her former self. With her sunken in eyes, deep wrinkles, pale skin, hawk beak nose, bony neck, and tiny mouth, she looked more like a mummy then a living being. "What do you want?" shouted the old women from her position at the front desk.

"We need a place to stay." Said Flinn as he took a step closer to the desk where the women perched herself like an old buzzard. From her position, the old women shouted someone's name. "Lillian, come in here we have guests!" almost instantly, a young women appeared in the doorway that lead to the room with the fireplace. The young woman, other than the old one, was a picture of beauty. Her skin was pale, her eyes were a very light blue color, her form was petite, her hair was long a light blonde-haired person, and her face was like that of an angel. "Yes moma." Said Lillian as she carefully walked over to the front desk and took the ring of keys handed to her. It became apparent by the way she walked that she had difficulty seeing. She walked with one hand out and as a slow pace.

"The women please follow Lillian; the men follow me." The old women declared as she slowly got up from her position at the desk like a bolder that has not been moved in ages.

"Wait, you are separating us?" Alisea was, of course, a little unnerved. She had hoped to be near her friends and boyfriend in this strange place and the thought of being in a place separated from them made her feel vulnerable. A feeling she absolutely despised. "Unless you are married to one of these men," she motioned to Flinn and Shill, "which I think is unlikely; you women will be sleeping in separate quarters from the men." And with that the two groups went their separate ways. The men went to the west wing, while the women went to the east wing.

Something the groups quickly realized was that there was no escape from the dampness outside. The beds, walls, and air all felt damp and smelled old. The walls had water spots and Myri thought that, if someone were to drill a hole in the wall that a small spring would erupt. More to Alisea's dismay, everyone got his or her separate room and in her dark and damp room, all by herself, she felt like a prisoner.

A feeling everyone on the island shared with her.


	17. Chapter 17

After investigating her room a little more and discovering that the window in her room was nailed shut, Alisea feels the need to reunite with her companions in the living room. She hoped that the companionship and the warmth of the fire would raise her dampened spirits. Once in the living room, she found her boyfriend and Lillian having a friendly conversation. Noticing her presence, Flinn looked up and smiled.

"Lillian just told me that her great, great, grandmother might be able to help us find Janet."

"Really?" Alisea was amazed that they had hardly been on the island for more than a few hours and had already gotten a lead.

"I know that my moma mentioned a girl by that name a few times. She knows everyone that lives on this island. After all, she is the oldest one on the island and almost everyone who comes to this island meets her." Lillian's milky eyes seemed to focus on the spot where Alisea stood. Alisea tried to move a little to the right to escape Lillian's milky eyes.

"I hope you don't mind that I strive off the topic, but I noticed that the windows in my room were nailed shut; what is the reason for this?" At this, Lillian squirmed in her seat, she clearly knew the reason, but apparently did not feel comfortable discussing this with people she hardly knew. "I have to ask the same thing, is it that way in all rooms?" added Flinn with a raised eyebrow.

"I should not be the one to explain this, my moma was the one to nail the windows shut, but she had the right reasons." After a short moment of silence to make sure her audience was still listening, "On this island, there is the belief that there is a monster that lives in the fog; it sneaks in through people's windows and steals them away. Those people are never seen again. Therefore, as you see, the nailed-shut windows are for your own good."

"There is a monster in the fog?" Flinn had a little trouble believing this; he had lived around multiple types of monsters in his life and had never heard of one that lives in fog and kidnaps people.

"It is and old legend, I think it was created to explain why so many people go missing all the time on this island. My moma is a firm believer in the legend, but I believe that they get lost in the fog and eventually walk off a cliff or perish in the woods. I simply cannot believe that there is a monster in the fog; would not someone have at least seen it once and have some sort of description, if it existed?"

"You should believe child!" came the voice of the old women from the entrance of the living room. "But moma, no one has ever proven that it exist." Argued Lillian as her eyes focused on the old women. "How can they prove the grey man exists, if they never live to see the next day? You of all people should believe; remember that the grey man took your dear father from us."

"Moma, papa left this island to look for mama."

"No, it took her too. Everyone knows this and accepts this, but you. Now I want you to go to your room for the night." She pointed with one of her boney fingers down the hall of the women's wing. Lillian, clearly a little disappointed, marched down to her room and was not seen for the rest of the night.

"Ma'am, sorry for being curious, but what exactly is the grey man?" asked Flinn, he was trying to make heads and tails out of the information presented to him. "He is a demon shadow and he hides in the fog. He is waiting out there; waiting for someone to let his or her guard down. He steals them away to take their skin and grind their bones. If you were smart, you would not have come here, but now that you are here you should know so you can defend yourselves." To the two young captains, the old women's warning sounded like the ramblings of a nut-job. Over the years of their training, they had heard of strange tails; some were true and others were not, but none of the stories they have ever heard even came close to what the old women was saying. Feeling that it was her fault that the topic strayed off course; Alisea tried to steer it back to the topic of their mission. "Ma'am, may I ask you what you know about a girl named Janet?"

"That depends on what you want to know." The old women's eyes were dark; compared to Lillian's milky eyes, this woman's eyes were little black holes. They were devoid of life and emotion. "Well, she is the reason why we are here. She is the niece of our principal and he really misses her." On que, Flinn pulled out the small image of the girl from his jacket pocket and handed it over to the old women. She took the image in her gnarled hands, looked at it for a few seconds, and then returned it Flinn. "You won't find her anymore. She disappeared. They grey man took her."

XXXXX

As he lay in bed, the damp covers clinging to his body like an unwanted second skin, the room smelled like a basement, and his throat burned from the dinner. The dinner hardly merited the title of such. The dinner consisted of a soup that contained more salt then broth, the bread was flat and tasteless, and the water had an odd green tinge. Nevertheless, the group did their best not to insult the host, though it was one of the few times Flinn had seen Shill hardly eat. As he lay there in the strange and uncomfortable bed, he could not shake the feeling of something watching him from beyond the window that stood beside his bed. He tried to forget the lore of the island that the old women had told him, but doing so seemed impossible. Every few minutes he would hear a noise outside or see something move in the shadows of the room. Hardly had he ever felt this vulnerable and lonely. He admitted to himself that he missed his friends and he missed Alisea. He thought about how her smile always made him feel warm and how he wished, he had seen it before going to bed; he missed that warmth in this cold and eerie room.


	18. Chapter 18

Flinn woke up the next day with a jolt as if he had a terrifying dream; only he could not remember it. His back was stiff from the old mattress he was sleeping on, his eyes felt heavy from a lack of peaceful dream, and he had a bitter taste in the back of his throat. Looking out the window, he notices how the weather had not changed from the day before: the sky was gray, the air was heavy, and the fog seemed to press itself against the windowpane; as if trying to make its' way inside. Turning his attention to the old and mute grandfather clock in his room, he noted that it was far past the time he usually got up. Since he usually gets up at around five in the morning, now it was six thirty. Once in the Inn's kitchen, he realized that he was already late and that the others have already finished and had settled in the living room to wait for him. "Oh you are up, we were starting to get worried and thought we might wake you up." Said Alisea as she braided Willow's red curly hair, who looked as gloomy as the day before.

"I am sorry; I had a really hard time falling sleep. I guess I let the old lady's story of the grey man get to me."

"Don't worry about it, we all had trouble sleeping; Alisea didn't even sleep at all last night." Mentioned Shill, this earned him an angry look from Alisea, who had told him this hoping he would keep it from Flinn. Since Flinn would not have allowed a tired person helping with finding a missing person. Luckily, Flinn did not seem to mind.

XXXXX

After a quick breakfast that consisted of bread, salty butter, and a glass of milk, the group made their way into the empty streets. Willow had refused to leave the safety on the Inn and had retired back to her room. The group simply planned to continue without her, since they mostly needed her to get on the island. "Well, how do we go about finding Janet?" asked Myri, "Well, she is a citizen, so she must be registered at the town's hall." Flinn thought out loud, rubbing his chin as he pondered.

"But, where could the town's hall be?" replied Shill to his captain's thoughts

"Usually, town halls are located near the center of towns, so we probably should just follow the road; besides, if we can't find it that way, we can just follow the road back to the Inn." Suggested Alisea with a smile; part of her wanted to plea with Willow to be their guide, but she decided not to. Suddenly, the group's attention is taken away from their planning when they heard the faint sound of a child crying. Training their eyes to look through the fog, the group tried to find the source of the seemingly disembodied voice. In the distance, the figure of a small child comes closer and soon it came into clear view. The crying voice belonged to a little girl; her hair was blond and short, her long dress was the color of the fog around her, and her eyes were an eerie pale blue color. "She looks just like the Janet from the drawing." Whispered Myri to her captain as she got a good look at the child and Flinn, in response, pulled out the picture of the young girl they had set out to find. It was true; the girl had a striking resemblance to the Janet in the drawing. "Umm, little girl, is your name Janet?" he had to admit that his was of asking was not the best, but his brain hardly wanted to work. The little girl nodded her head, "Do you have an aunt and uncle that live and work on another island?" Again, he admitted to himself that his question was untactful and too brought but again the little girl nodded. The chance that two different girls had these specific similarities was too slim for this to be a coincidence. "We have been ordered from your uncle to recover you. Can you come with us?" Myri tried to take a step closer to Janet, but she only shook her head and took a step away. "Is something the matter, why can you not come with us?" Myri tried one more step and Shill chimed in, "Don't worry, we do not bite." Janet vigorously shook her head before running away from the group and vanishing in the fog from which she came. "Wait, come back!" shouted Flinn as he attempted to run after her; being closely followed by his friends and only stopping when they come to a fork in the road. "Looks like we need to split up, I'll go with Shill and you go with Alisea." Shouted Myri as she grabbed Shill and went down the left path, forgetting that Flinn is the captain and decision maker of the group. Flinn did feel worried that his friends would get lost in the fog, but he had a feeling that they would be all right; they always ended up alright. Running down the right path a thought came to Alisea, the thought being what if they had lost her earlier in the fog and were now running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Again, they came to a fork in the road. One road went up and, from what the fog was allowing them to see, looked like no one had used it in a while; even the town seemed to end there with the last house looking as run down as the rest. The other road seemingly went downhill and well-traveled. "I'll go uphill and you go downhill if we do not find her by the time we hit the end of the road, we go back to the inn." Suggested Flinn as he took a step closer to the path he intended.

"And what if we passed her? Or what if we hit the end of the road and she has hidden just a little further?" Alisea's questions were genuine and she stopped her boyfriend before he continued on the deserted path.

"Our safety is more important to me, especially yours. I know Myri and Shill will return to the inn on their own, but I know how you want to complete any challenging task; please do as I say." He had turned to her and looked her into the eyes to show how serious he was, more than he ever was and before she could say another word, Flinn ran off down the path. With a heavy sigh, Alisea quickly walked down the other path. The air got cooler, the fog got thicker, and her clothes and hair became damp with moisture. In the distance, she could see something that looked like trees, but the fog got thicker and thicker to the point where she felt like she had entered another world. She slowed her pace and looked around; looking down she could hardly see her own feet. "Oh great" Looking ahead, she saw something in the moving in the fog, "Janet?" she called and made her way to the area where she saw the movement, but something caught her foot and she fell hard onto the ground. The pain ran through her body as she hit the ground, unable to stop her head from hitting the ground with her hands. Over what had I tripped? Was the main question on her mind and looking down, she saw what it was.

An old and weathered tombstone.


	19. Chapter 19

"A graveyard!" Alisea scurried away from the tombstone that tripped her, only to hit her back on another one; she then jumped up, not wanting another one to touch her. The fog cleared a bit to allow her to see her surrounding and they surrounded her. Some more weathered than others, some overgrown and forgotten, and some seemed to be hardly more than a pile of rocks and plant life. I got myself lost in a graveyard; this is going to haunt me for a long time. She thought as she looked around for the way she got in, but could not find it. "Oh no, I am lost!" She cried out as she panicked and started running between the graves for a way out, only to meet more graves and fog. The ground was muddy, but thankfully solid and covered in rocks, one of which inflicted a small cut on her cheek, which did not bleed, but burned terribly. Again, she saw something in her prefill vision move in the fog, causing the fog to swirl in Kraken-like tendrils and immediate the legend she heard from the old women the previous night rang through her mind.

"…he hides in the fog…" was how she had described the demon that haunts the island. " He is waiting out there; waiting for someone to let his or her guard down. He steals them away to take their skin and grind their bones." The thought that raced through her mind as she remembered the legend: is it coming for me?

Feeling her heartbeat quicken, she frantically looked around for a sign of life, her heart began to race so fast that she could hear her blood buzzing in her ears, so panicked was she that she almost overlooked the pale face in the fog looking back at her; Alisea almost jumped out of her skin when she noticed it. Thankfully, it was Janet. "Oh thank god I found you. Janet, enough of the games, please come with us; your uncle and aunt really miss you." Janet only smiled back at her but remained in her place. "Please, Janet, enough of this game." She started begging and made her way to the small child, occasionally looking down to make sure she would not trip over another headstone. After making it halfway to the little girl, Alisea looked up once again and noticed that Janet had managed to move a good distance away from her; now she was barely at the edge of her vision. She wondered how that little girl could move so far in such a short time. This would happen a few more times before Alisea's patience wore thin and she began running between the tombstones until she reached the edge of the thick fog bank; this gave her a little clearer vision. Janet now stood several feet away at the edge of a forest line: the forest itself looked dead with its missing leafs, cracking bark, and water soaked wood. "How did she do this? I only had my eyes off of her for a few seconds." She asked herself as she slowed her pace and kept her eyes fixed on the little girl. Just as she got within touching distance, Janet gave off a little giggle and ran off into the distance, faster than Alisea could reach out to grab her. "Janet, come back I have enough of this game!" she shouted after her and chased after her, trying to catch up to the little girl's fast strides. Alisea tried her best to keep up with the little girl, determined to catch her and end this haunting mission, but sadly, the little girl bested her and vanished within the dead and rotting trees. Panting heavily and close to tears from frustration, Alisea stopped and cursed her fate to be on this horrible island. Only after catching her breath and surveying the area did she realize that Janet might have planned to lead her somewhere because, only a few feet away, stood a rundown cabin. Covered in moss, its roof had collapsed, its windows were broken, and its door missing; all suggesting that no one had been there in a while. "Janet is this where you wanted me to follow you too?" her question received nothing but silence and she slowly approached the rundown building; the three steps leading up to the cabin creaked and groaned and threatened to break under her light weight with each step she took. The small porch was not much better with the missing planks and holes in those that remained, leaving her only the bare structure as a safe path to walk on. As she approached the open doorway, the smell hit her; the cabin smelled like mold, moss, decay, and copper; all mixed together to create a sign to send her away.

Yet she kept going.

The inside of the horrid looking cabin was not any better than the outside; on the inside the smell was deafening and Alisea felt her nose going numb, though that might have come from the cold, and sight-wise the cabin was just as bad as the smell. Most of the bare and molding walls what were not covered in dust were covered in thick, dusty, curtain-like cobwebs. "Janet, what is it you are trying to tell me?" she asked aloud as she looked around. Clearly, the cabin had been abandoned for a long time and whoever lived here left suddenly and in a hurry by the way those seemingly high-priced valuables like candle operas, crystal glasses, and watches were left behind. As she looked around and explored the cabin from the entrance hall to the three bedrooms, she managed to conclude that the cabin once belonged to Janet when she found a small painting of her in the master bedroom. Why would she lead me here, surely she must live somewhere else if her home is in this poor condition? Thought Alisea as she made her way out, relieved to have solved the issue of the cabin, but now confronted with the next: how was she going to get out of the woods? Chasing after Janet had occupied her mind so much that she had not paid any attention to where she was going and she had, therefore, not made any mental notes of her surroundings. "First, the graveyard, and now the woods, am I ever going to get off this island?" She cried to herself as she headed towards the direction she thought she had come from. Not knowing the time of day or how long she had walked, Alisea leaned against the trunk of a tree to a minutes rest; the air was so thick that it had become difficult to breath; it was as though the island was trying to suffocate her with a blanket of fog. In the distance, she heard the snapping of a twig and at first, she wrote it off as an animal stepping on it, but then it hit her: she had not seen a single living creature the entire time she had wandered into the woods. Staying completely still, she shifted only her eyes to urban the area. The cracking of the twig had been far away and the fog was thick enough to that she felt some form of coverage, but just like before in the graveyard, she felt eyes on her. She listened to the deafening silence around her, hoping the silence would not leave. Her senses intensified, she felt the cold of the air on her skin, the uneven ground below her feel, the damp and decaying trunk of the tree. She heard the silence of her surrounding and the blood rushing through her body; she smelled the dead woods and fog surrounding her; it was as though she had become part of the tree she was leaning against, silent, still, and conservative.

An ice-cold hand touching her shoulder broke this.

Turning around with a single jump, ready to fight for her life with whatever had approached her, she found herself looking into the familiar green eyes of her friend Willow. "Willow, what are you doing her? I thought you said you wanted to stay at the Inn?" She felt angry with her for scaring her half to death instead of approaching her like a normal person but quickly forgave her when she noticed the worried look on her friend's face. "I did not want to come along with you guy, but I was worried about you. I had a feeling you would split from your group and I didn't want you to be alone on this island."

"Wait, if you knew I was going to split from the group, then how did you find me? If so, for how long?"

"I have followed you ever since you left the inn."

"If you have been following me all this time, then why have you never called out to me? You could have scared me to death just then."

"I was going to, but by the time I had caught up to you, you were already in the boneyard and I felt that if I called out to you there, you would have certainly died of fright. It is a good thing I didn't too, a few times as you ran around you got really close to the cliff edge, if I had called out then and you would have reacted like you just did, you would have fallen to your death."

"Wait, the graveyard is located by a cliff?" Now Alisea was counting her blessings that she had come out of there practically unsaved. "It didn't use to be like that, but over the years the ocean just ate away at it, there is a newer one a bit further down the hill, but some of the old families still get buried there, that is why it looks so shabby. Anyway, let's get you back to the Inn; if you stay out here in the cold much longer death will catch you." Willow took hold of Alisea by the hand and began leading her out of the woods; Alisea clung to her friend as a frightened child did to its mother. "Have you seen a little girl by any chance?" Asked Alisea as they reached the edge of the woods and made their way through the rundown boneyard, "Nope, my attention was solely on you, sorry."

"It is alright." With that, they made their way back to the town in silence.


	20. Chapter 20

The more Flinn traveled on the path the more discouraged he became in the thought that he had chosen the right one; sure there were signs that someone had recently been on it, but the further he traveled on it the more overgrown and unused. There where there had once been a clear ground free of weeds and debris, was now only a shallow footpath through the grass, rocks, and weeds. He noticed that the further he walked away from the town the clearer his surroundings became to him; it was as though the fog only clung to filth civilization and not to the purity and solitude of nature. Though the sky was over asked and grey, he could see for several yards; he could see the forest line up on the hill and a town further down the path. "Great, maybe there is someone who can help me." Said Flinn aloud as he quickened his pace, but as he did that, he saw a figure running out of the forest line and onto the path.

It was Janet.

"Janet wait!" He took chase, but it was no use; she was faster and knew her surrounding a lot more than he did. Where she jumped and dashed, he stumbled, slowed, and slid, ultimately causing him to lose sight of her once they reached the town. His leg still hurt from the other day. "Oh damn it!" he cursed aloud and noticed the fog covering it like it had the other one. "Even better, now I will never find her." Deciding to try it, he started walking around the seemingly empty town. The houses were decrepit and overgrown in weeds and vines, the roads were overgrown and unkempt, and fountain in the town square was vine covered and seemed charred from a fire. "Why would she run here? There is nothing and no one around." He took a closer look at the charred angle fountain and wondered how it got that way, there was nothing else burnt, but it.

Suddenly he heard voices in the distance.

"Come on you pansy, I went down there countless times and nothing has ever happened."

"Oh give him a break Milo; if the rumors are true, then he will live longer than the rest of us."

"I am not a pansy!"

From what he could hear, the voices belonged to an older teenage boy, a young woman, and a younger boy. "Perhaps they have seen Janet." He hoped as he followed the voices to a far end of the town square; there he found three figures standing before the charred, burnt-out remains of an old building. "Hey excuse me, can you help me?" the closer he got to them the clearer he could see them. One was a tall, blond guy with a lit cigarette hanging from his lips, the second one was a young woman with long white hair and cat ears, and the third one was a boy who seemed much younger than the other two. "What do you want?" Asked the tall blond boy with a snarky tone in his voice, which earned him a glare from the cat-girl. "Milo behave." She then turned her attention to Flinn, "what do you need, sir?"

"I am looking for a girl."

"Oh a Casanova, Star I think he means you!" The boy she addressed as Milo elbowed the cat-girl in the side, "very funny Milo, but I think he is looking for a friend, not a stranger." Star sounded annoyed as if she had dealt with his antics all day. "You can never be too sure with those new ones. You are a new one, right?" He asked Flinn with a mocking smirk as if being a new one on the island was a bad thing. "Yes, I am a new one, but I am not planning on staying here. I am part of a rescue team, here to recover Janet; her aunt and uncle are very worried about her and would like her to live with them. I have seen her earlier, but I lost her in this fog. I think she might be binding around here somewhere."

"Y-you have seen J-J-Janet?" The youngest one finally opened his mouth and asked in a trembling voice. "He probably means a different Janet, Percy." Star tried to tie down his seemingly growing hopes. Flinn then pulled out the small picture of the Janet he was looking for. "She looks like this, is this the Janet you mean?" he took the small picture out of his pocket and shows it to the group and Percy recognizes her. "Yes, that is Janet!" exclaimed, "But we have not seen her in a year."

"She is dead, the grey man got her." Said Milo in a plane voice, completely empty of emotion. Almost as if, death was part of the daily life on the island. The constant talk of the grey man had unnerved him enough. "Well we cannot help you, we haven't seen her." With a heavy sigh, Flinn gave up. If Janet was in this town and they had not seen her, then it would be next to impossible to find her one his own. Just as he was about to thank the three and leave, the youngest, Percy, split from the group. "excuse me, but can you accompany me back to town?"

"What a captain you are!" Snickered Milo, putting out his cigarette, "you are a captain?" Flinn was surprised side the boy looked a little too young to have completed his training. "Well, partly. I have a ship and have read what books we have on sailing, but my crew and I have not been able to leave. Since the fog is so thick and the waters so dangerous, the Laughingstock has never left port." Percy felt ashamed to admit to this. "I am a captain myself, if you want, I can help train you some day. I also know of a great school too."

"There are schools on how to become a pirate? I thought as long as you knew how to sail, you were good." Asked Star, raising an eyebrow at Flinn. "Those times have passed, there are still a few who become pirates the old-fashion way, but most now go to school."

"Pfft, whatever, Percy would be too afraid to go and get trained anyway, so why bother. We would be better off taking up jobs here, then to have him lead us." At this point, Milo was intentionally trying to be hurtful to Percy. Not because he hated him or wanted to harm him, but because he had made a bet with Star earlier and wanted to win. "What makes you think that?" Asked Flinn confused, "Simple, he is too afraid to go down those stairs to the grey man's basement." Flinn stared at Milo in disbelieve; did the grey man actually exist as a man?

"It is just a basement, right?" Sling looked at the other two who were staring at him. "You wouldn't be saying that, if you knew the history behind it. It is more than just a basement, to the other locals, who believe in the legend; it is a gateway to hell." Star tried to make her voice sound as scary as she could. "Oh really, and why is that." By the way, Star was acting; Flinn did not feel as though that basement was as terrifying as believed. "If it really is a 'gateway to hell' how did it get that way?"

The three exchanged glances at each other before returning their attention to Flinn. "It is kind of a long and spooky story." Explained Star, "I have plenty of time."

"Alright, if you insist, the story begins long ago before the fog. Right here in the quiet town of Ivybrooke, there was a leather worker named Edward March. From what is remembered, he was very skilled; he could produce the finest gloves, jackets, furniture, and the like in the world. He was described to have a glass eye from a childhood accident and that his jaw barely opened and that he walked with a cane because of a very bad knee injury. He was also very ugly and awkward around the rest of the town. He is also supposed to have strange fetishes, like sticking himself with needles and mutilating himself because he liked the reactions he got from those that caught him doing this. Since he was so good and had no rivals, Edward was rich, but started to feel empty inside and looked for something to fill the void. He tried the usual: drinking, drugs, and the like, but nothing filled the void. He even tried starting a family, but none of the women would even date him and he could not adopt being a bachelor. Being alone he starts going mad and he starts hating children since he cannot have one. Then, one day, a little girl named Grace came to his door. She was sent by her mother to give out baked goods to all the neighbors, including Edward. Supposedly, once he looks down at little Grace, he invites her in and offers her a pair of gloves if she spends a little time with him. Now, Grace is not stupid and has heard everything the town said about him and she got scared. When she wanted to leave, he tried to force her to stay, she gets into a struggle with him, and he ends up killing her by accident. Terrified, he hides her body in the basement. He would have been caught, if the police even knew the basement existed and Edward got away with murder. Besides, no one believed that a fragile old man could harm anyone. Now all he has to do was rid him of the body; he knows he cannot just throw it into the ocean because of the fishers that are constantly surrounding the island. Somehow, he gets this terrible idea to dismember her and, because her skin was so soft and flawless, skinned her and made it into leather for his works. For the rest he had a friend help him. The friend's name was Horace, who was an unsuccessful fisher and was desperate to make money. Edward offered what was left of Grace to Horace as fish bait." Star stopped and waited to see Flinn's reaction and just as expected: the young captain looked disturbed and nauseated. In his mind, Flinn kept repeating to himself that this was just a story and that no human or monster could be that depraved.

"You are skipping the best part of the story," said Milo as he nudged his friend in the side; he clearly enjoyed scaring the new one and decided to continue the story on his own. "Edward used Grace's skin to make himself a pair of gloves that he wore every day, he even called them Grace and kissed them whenever he was alone. After completing the gloves and falling in love with them, he felt that he was not done. He wanted an entire suit made of skin. He was patients and simply waited for the time when a child or young adult would come to his shop on their own; if none came for weeks, he would sneak into their rooms at night through the window and kidnap them. He was very sporty for his age. All those that would come to his shop, he would overpower then, trap them in the basement, and slowly skin them alive; he thought that way the skin would be a lot more flexible. The bodies were given to Horace to use as bait. Horace became very lucrative: apparently, the fish around this island liked the taste of meat over the taste of worms. Everything would have worked out fine for them and the parents of the missing children would have just thought that the people coming from other island were stealing their children, if Horace was not so horrible at his job of disposing of the bodies. One day, a woman, who was missing her child, bought a big fish from Horace and was preparing it at home when she came across a severed finger in the stomach of the fish. She recognized it to be the finger of her daughter because of a small golden ring she wore the day she went missing. The town's people captured Horace and tortured a confession out of him. Then they raided Edward's shop. They found him in the basement; he was in the act of skinning another child. He was even wearing Grace, a hat, and part of a cape he created. Quick to act, the town's people dragging both Horace and Edward to the angle fountain, chained them to it and lit them on fire before burning down his shop. People think that because he was not finished with his work, that he cursed the town. After everything was burned to ashes, the town's people took what remained of Horace and Edward and threw that into the sea, so they would not even have a grave by which to be remembered. That evening, a fog rolled over the town. After a while, the people realized it was a curse and moved to the other side of the island, but the fog followed them and covered the entire island. Now Edward is said to kidnap anyone he catches in the fog to takes their skin to complete his work and Horace is said to cause shipwrecks around the island to trap those who try to leave or get to the island."


	21. Chapter 21

Milo waited for Flinn's reaction and was disappointed when the young captain only shook his head. "That is an interesting story, but do you have any proof?" The only comfort that Flinn could cling to was that there was no proof that the story even took place. "Well, there is the fog and then there are the charred remains of the old shop." Milo pointed out and hoped that it was enough to convince him. "The fog could come from a combination of hot and cold air and the wind probably causes the fog to stay here. As for the remains of the shop; when the town got abandoned some youths might have thought it funny to destroy it and the Angel statue too." He knew it was a stretch, but nevertheless, it sounded logical. "If you are so confident, then how about you go down into the basement yourself." Said Star for she believed in the old legend and was upset that an outsider was trying to downplay what she knew to be true. To her, it felt insulting.

"I cannot stay long…"

"It won't take long. All you need to do is walk down the stairs, take one step onto the basement floor, and then head back up." Star smiled at him and tried to make the challenge sound as harmless as possible even though she herself had never gone down into the basement. "Alright, I will do it." Flinn took in a deep breath and headed to the opening in the ground. He looked down and stopped for a second; it looked like the darkness of the basement was pressing against the little light that the fog allowed; he could only see about two steps down before the darkness swallowed them. "It looks really dark no dangerous, if I do not come back soon, go, and get help; it might mean that I am trapped!" He called back to the three people that stood behind him. "Don't worry, the stairs are made out of stone so they won't break and the walls should be sound too. " Star called back at him.

His steps crunched on the sand, dust, and small rocks that riddled the old stone stairs and the light faded more and more the closer he got to the bottom. He stopped when his next step produced a splashing sound. Since the "shop" was burned to the ground and there was no door to the basement, the rain had collected over the years and turned the basement into an underground lake; covered in moss and mold and smelling of damp decay. Flinn sighed a breath of frustration and continued; he hoped that the water was not deep enough to fill his boots. Three steps further, he had finally reached the bottom and was surrounded in complete darkness; he looked up behind himself to see that the entrance to the basement was nothing more than a bright square in the darkness. He stretched out one hand and felt his way along the wall with the other to feel his way; in this darkness, he was a blind man and he was starting to regret his decision to take up the challenge. He asked himself what he was looking for anyway. Finally, he reached the end of the wall and smiled to himself when he ran his bare hand against the old and brittle brick. Suddenly something nudged against his boot and he jumped a little. Immediately, the images of the story flashed in his head and he feared that some of the bodies remained. With a racing heart, he reached down to touch the object that floated near him; he pulled his hand back a little when he touched something cold, round, and rough. He forced himself to touch it again, he knew he could not put his mind to rest if he did not find out what it was, and ran his hand over the object's surface. The object slowly adapted to the warmth of his and he poked it a little underwater and it sunk to the bottom with a metallic clunk sound; a small bubble reached the surface. Relieved, he reached down, picked it up, and felt the thing in its entirety. It was a small rusty metal bowl. Quickly he made his way back up the stairs; the bright square becoming bigger and bigger the closer he got. "There, I did…" He stopped when he reached the outside world.

He was alone.

He swallowed his anger; he quietly made his way out of the abandoned town and back to the one that only looked abandoned. On the way, he felt something stinging the back of his heel. He thought it might be a stone from the basement. Finally reaching the town, he saw Lillian walking alone in the street with a full basket in her arms. "Lillian, need help?" he rushed over to her and offered to take the heavy basket from the petit young women. "Oh Flinn, thank you very much. Have you found what you and your friends were looking for?" her milky eyes focused on him and she offered him a small smile. "Sadly I lost her. My friends and I found Janet, but she ran away. She ran to that abandoned town down the path that is where I lost her."

"Oh I am sorry to hear that, but thank you for helping me. I rarely get help, especially from a handsome guy like you." she offered him a small giggle. Flinn did not know how to react to a woman trying to flirt with him, so he only smiled back at her. "I was raised to be a gentleman." He casually walked alongside with her; he did not know that two young women had seen this. "Why are you walking around on your own?"

"My grandmother trusts me, besides; I am safe during the day."

Back at the Inn, he reunited with his friends. Sadly, they were as successful as he was with their search. When he saw Alisea, who was clinging to Willow's arm like a child, his heart stopped. However, he would not show it, he was shocked to see her dirty, covered in mud, and with a cut on her face. "Is everything alright?" he held himself back in order not to scare the obviously spooked captain. "I am alright, but I lost Janet near the graveyard. I found her old home; it is completely dilapidated. I am beginning to wonder if she even wants to leave."

"I am beginning to wonder the same thing. I followed her to an abandoned town." He kept the rest: the burnt remains of the old shop, the basement challenge, and the three who had abandoned him out of the story. Hoping to defuse the frustrated situation, Lillian raised her voice. "Hey Alisea, how about I ask moma if she can make you a nice warm bath. In the meantime, I can make us all a nice soup, I got the vegetables." Willow only furrowed her brows at her; she knew the almost-blind girl could not see it.

Later that evening, after dinner and everyone had retired to their rooms; Flinn inspected his shoe and found a piece of a rusty needle.


	22. Chapter 22

After her bath, which consisted of a large bowl and a cloth, and a somewhat decent dinner Alissa sat on her bed and replayed the events of the day in her head. It was obvious to her that Janet did not want to be rescued, otherwise, she would not have run away and led them to those secluded places; it also became clear to her that Lillian had some feelings for Flinn. This did worry her a bit; after all, Lillian was shy, petite, and very pretty. Lillian was a girl in every sense of the word and Alisea was afraid that Flinn might develop feelings for that girl. Hoping to get her mind off that idea, and to thank her for her help earlier in the woods, Alisea left her room and knocked on Willows door. It surprised her that Willow immediately opened the door, even before Alisea's hand was off it. "Yes?" Willow smiled at her warmly. "I...umm… I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"For earlier in the woods, I would have been lost without you."

"Oh, don't mention it; I just did what any good friend would do, but something tells me that it's not the only reason why you are here. You look a little upset."

"I do? Maybe I am just tired from the day."

"Or, perhaps, it has something to do with that boy and how much of a gentleman he was around that Lillian"

"He is friendly to everyone."

"I haven't seen him this friendly around you."

At this Alisea had little to say; it was true that, since they arrived at the island, that Flinn hardly even looked at her and when they had regrouped in front of the inn that he hardly asked what had happened to her. Maybe Willow was right at some points.

"We are all really busy and hardly have the time to even talk to each other, so of course, you would not see us interact much."

"But he still shows more affection to that Lillian then to you." Willow put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder and ushered her to sit with her on the rickety bed. "It is alright to be upset and you do not have to defend every single one of his actions; he is a man and men will never treat women right. The first thing on their mind is themselves and so is the last thing on their mind; everything in between exists solely to serve their needs."

"You seem to have a lot of experience with men?"

"I had my heart broken on several ovations and I have observed a lot of others"

"That doesn't mean that Flinn is like those other guys."

"And what makes you think that he will be different from any other man out there?"

"I just thought they cannot all be the same if women are not all the same."

"We are more similar than you think." noticing her friend's fatigue, she pulled her onto her lap the way a mother would comfort her child and gently brushed her Soft copper hair with her fingers. "You will learn this in time." Meanwhile, Alisea's eyelids began to get heavy; the rhythmic brushing of Willow's fingers through her hair was a lullaby calling her to rest. "Maybe, or maybe you will learn yourself," she muttered half asleep. "Maybe…" Willow let that sentence hang, "You are going to be a great mother one day."

"I cannot."

"Then adopt, or take one in from the streets."

"What if I were to adopt you?"

"Cannot, I am too old and I still have a parent."

"Are they here?"

"No, he is on my home-island resenting me."

"Then I will adopt you, besides, you are more of a manageable age for me."

"Sounds great," mumbled Alisea on the verge of sleep. Within minutes, Willow could hear the slow, deep breathing of the young captain's sleep in her lap. "Yeah, sounds great," muttered Willow under her breath and slid out from underneath her new sleeping daughter. For her, the air felt cold and she walked to the window. "I will not let you in," she whispered to the fog, only to have the fog whisper back to her.

"Yes you will, you owe me everything."

Willow jumped back from the window and covered her mouth with her hand to keep quiet. She knew the raspy voice and was terrified that he found her; she had hoped that the disguise had worked, though a part of her had the feeling that it never did. "No, I cannot, I have moved on. I have a daughter now. I have a life." She cautiously approached the window and pressed her hands against the windowpane; even though the window was nailed shut, she felt that she needed to keep the window closed. "Without me, you would not have a daughter."

"But I cannot continue with the life I had."

"Oh Mon chéri, I will only ask you for one more favor, then I will set you free and you can life happily with daughter for the rest of your existence."

"What do I have to do?" her voice was shaky and her hands were trembling.

"Simple, let me in."


	23. Chapter 23

Back in the prison on the Eldorado, Thomas had worked all day on a small replica key out of wood. He knew what the key looked like and worked on it by memory; he hid it whenever one of the crew members would come to check on them and bring them meals and water. He finished it by the time most of the others had gone to bed. "You are only going to get us in more trouble." Grumbled Zorion, who had to listen to Thomas's angry rants and escape plans all day, which can get old and annoying after a while. "We will only get in trouble if we get caught."

"We? What do you mean we?" Asked Rolfo waking from an uneasy sleep. "Well we are all going to escape, aren't we?"

"You are on your own this time" replied Rolfo, now fully awake, "We have gotten into enough trouble as it is since we started listening to you."

"So you two are willing to just sit here and wait?"

"It is better than running away to an unknown island. Besides, we might still be able to get out of a really bad punishment," said Zorion, leaning back to relax and get some sleep.

"Fine, then stay in here and rot, but I am leaving." proclaimed Thomas and opened the cage; before he left, he turned back one more time. "Last chance, I am leaving and when I do I will close the cage." when his two comrades failed to reply, he closed the cage door behind him and left.

On deck, he was again met with the thick fog that he had been met with earlier, only this time, he could tell it was night. Slowly and carefully, he made his way to where he knew the lifeboats were being kept and tried to avoid any of the ropes and barrels that sat around on deck. Sadly, he was no alone; Donnie, who had trouble sleeping and had therefore been wandering around on deck, waiting for her friends to return. The small lantern she carried hardly illuminated her surrounding as the fog seemed to press itself against the light, wanting to extinguish it. The air felt cold to her and she had covered herself with her blanket, yet it did little to warm her; she both respected her friend's devotion to saving a little girl they hardly knew and hated them for dragging her into the cold. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard something thudding on deck. She didn't know that it was the escaped Thomas, who had tripped over a line of rope. Carefully, with a semi-shaking voice, she called out, "Is someone out there, are you alright?" When no answer came, for Thomas tried to disappear into the surrounding fog, she decided to make her way in the direction of the sound. When Thomas knew that escaping without being seen was impossible at this point and decided to make the best of it; she might make for great leverage against her friends. When she had gotten close enough for him to see her and she see him, she was already too close to escape him; at lightning speed, he wrapped one arm around her waist to pull her closer and the other went up to cover her mouth. She was helplessly captured and the lantern fell from her hand and went out with a pop when it hit the deck. "Keep quiet unless you want me to cut out your tongue." He hissed as she fought against his grip. "I am leaving this ship and am taking you with me. I think you know why." Donnie slowly nodded her head sand kept quiet as he released his hand from her mouth. "You do not have to do this; if you take me, they will surely come after you. I am not good leverage material."

"They won't dare come after me if they knew I could hurt you if they did."

"Your logic is flawed."

"Shut up and get going." He pushed her towards the lifeboats. Despite what he had hoped, Donnie was not going to go with him without a fight. Before even reaching the rallying, Donnie swung around and punched Thomas on the side of his head, all the while screaming bloody murder. Thomas swayed a little, but caught himself and grabbed hold of the hair of a fleeing Donnie; with a quick swing, he threw her in the deck's hardwood. Donnie was knocked out cold. He could hear the crew below deck waking up and rushing to help their friend; without thinking, he picked up Donnie's limp body and tossed her into one of the lifeboats before hopping in himself and just as Donnie's brother, Shill, rushed out on deck he cut the rope. The boat only took a few seconds to hit the uneasy water below and Thomas could hear a distraught Shill cursing at him, but Thomas was already rowing away.

"We have to go after them!" cried Shill as he tried to make his way to another lifeboat, "We have to save Donnie."

"Shill stop!" Pablo grabbed hold of the young man and held him tight, "It will be a miracle if they make it to shore, if you go out after them right not, you could die!"

"And we are just going to let him take her?" Shill croaked as tears began to well-up in his eyes.

"No, we will get him for this once we get Willow to help us get to shore. There is not anywhere he can go."

"What if he kills her?"

"He is not that crazy. He knows that if he hurts her, he is as good as dead."


	24. Chapter 24

Though Pablo tried to reason with Lola, his efforts were of little use; Shill was persistent on going after Thomas to save his sister. "Lola, Pablo is right, what are you going to do if you smash against one of the rocks?" Pleaded Myri, but shill would not listen.

"I have to at least try and save my sister."

Shill's efforts were cut short when the ship underneath him began to rock violently back and forth and the sound of splintering wood filled their ears.

Though he had gotten a good distance between them, Thomas looked over his shoulder when he heard the sound of two ships colliding. Part of him now envied Donnie for behind unconscious because the ghoulish sight of a rotten ghost ship drifting through the Eldorado will never leave his mind. He rowed fast and faster, trying to get away from the sight; several times the little lifeboat hit a rock, but it never broke and soon he and the unconscious Donnie made it to the gray shore.

In the morning, Alisea awoke to an empty room. She figured that Willow had gotten up earlier and had let her rest a little longer. As she left her friend's room, a little embarrassed for falling asleep in her lap, she noticed a small draft; she wrote it off as the house is old and rickety. When she got downstairs, as she had thought, the others had already eaten. Still tired, she grabbed a piece of bread from the table, "So, what is the plan for today?"

"Well, we couldn't catch her yesterday, so we could ask around and see if she is living with someone or if someone knows where she is staying at." Said Flinn, still trying to wake up; he still had not gotten use to the bed.

"We could not catch up to her either, but we did find something odd at the Town Hall when we were looking through the records." Everyone's attention went to Shill and Myri, "The town keeps a good record of everyone on this island: when they are born when they got here, and when they disappear or die and you won't like what we found." Said Myri with sorrowful eyes. "According to the records, Janet died two years ago."

"How can that be? We saw her and chased after her. The records have to be wrong!" Declared Flinn, now fully waking up.

"Or we were chasing after the wrong Janet, I mean, we only saw her from a distance and she didn't respond to us when we called after her." Recounted Myri, trying to be the rational one.

"I am sorry, but I have to side with Flinn. I saw her a lot closer back at the cemetery and she looked just like the Janet in the image." As much as she wanted to leave the island, Alisea simply could not work with the idea that they have been chasing after the wrong person.

"But you also said you were surrounded by fog-"

"I saw her clear as day and I know it was the right, Janet."

"Fine, but we can't stay on this island for much longer, we are probably being missed right now."

"We won't stay much longer, let us just try to catch her one more time and then we will leave in the morning." Said Flinn while placing a comforting hand on Myri's shoulder, which she shrugged off.

After a quick breakfast, the group spot up again, Shill and Myri went deeper into town, while Flinn decided that he and Alisea should walk near the shore and see if they can find either Janet or someone who knew where she might be. As they walked along the gray, gravelly beach carefully trying not to twist an ankle since some of the rocks were true ankle breakers. The two tried to see if they could find anyone what might be able to help them, but the fog hid everything within its void, Alisea and Flinn were seemingly the only ones within the void. The memory of being in the graveyard crept into Alisea's mind and her folder her arms over her chest to keep from shivering.

"Is very thing alright?" Apparently, Flinn noticed her being uncomfortable.

"Yeah I am alright; I just wished this fog would go away. It is cold, clammy, and I can't see very far."

Before Flinn could reply, he noticed that they had walked to the edge of the water and that there was a figure in the distance. The figure appeared small and thin; it was too far to determine who it was, but the figure was indicating to them to follow. Waving its arm in a beckoning motion that swirled the gray fog around it like a witches brew. As the two captains made their firsts steps towards the figure, the person turned and ran into the fog; the two captains ran after them, not knowing or caring where they were leading them, but simply knowing they needed to follow. Alisea managed to get ahead of Flinn and soon she was barely visible to him in the fog.

Suddenly, his foot is caught on something and he landed face fist into the rocky sand. Senses blurry, nose numb, and jaw hurting Flinn lifts his head and cannot see his friend anywhere; fear over her safety crawled into his chest and he tries to get up and chase after her, hoping to catch up to her, but his foot is still trapped and he hits the ground again. Now his already damaged knee started to feel like it was being pricked with fiery hot needles.

"If you wait a minute, I can help you out of it." A deep, old sounding voice sounded from behind him and Flinn turned to face a large, old, bearded man with a pipe in his mouth. The man's blue-gray eyes looked down at Flinn in a friendly way that he had not seen on the island yet. The man stooped down and began fiddling with a rope that had been tangled around Flinn's ankle; it took Flinn a moment to realize that the man was freeing him from an old fishing net.

"You must be new here; Star and Percy told me that fresh meat had made it to the island." Said the old man as he pulled Flinn's foot free.

"Thank you, have you seen my friend? She was with me until I got caught."

"Sorry boy, 'have only seen you. Who is your friend? This old man here can still be of some use. 'Know the island like the back of my hand. What were you doing out here anyway?" the old man helped Flinn up off the ground, readjusted his cap, and shifted his pipe from the left corner to the right corner of his mouth. "My crew and I are on a recovery mission. We got here to find the niece of our professor. Her name is Janet and she is a native here."

The old man looked down at the young captain with an empathetic expression; Flinn knew the old man was thinking that they had willingly trapped themselves on this cursed island to find a girl who might very well be dead. "My name is Richard," The old man finally said with a cheery smile "it is nice to meet a new face." This sudden change from quiet empathy to welcoming smile surprised Flinn, but he knew better than to question a man trying friendly to introduce himself.

"I am Flinn, Captain of the Aurora."

XXXXX

Alisea tries to keep up with the figure but ultimately loses them in the thick fog, as if it had become part of the swirling mist around her. Looking around her, she noticed two things: one that she had lost Flinn and two that she stood before the opening of a cave. The cave appeared to be a deep-pocked that tunneled into the island and had been uncovered by the tides rising and washing part of the island cliff wall away. Curious, she slowly made her way to its entrance of the cave as if being pulled into it. The closer she got, the stranger she felt; she felt as if she was doing something very naughty, like entering a forbidden room. Still, she felt like being pulled, as if something had caught her will to walk with a hook and was slowly reeling her in. Now past the entrance, she leaned against the side of the cave as the light grew dimmer and dimmer; she would have walked deeper when there was a gust of the wind from deep within the cave and a horrific stench hit her nose. It was horrible, it caused Alisea's nose to burn, eyes to water, and throat to close up. It reminded her of a dead animal she had once found in the forest near her childhood home; it smelled like sour meat and ammonia, except this smell was amplified, as if there were hundreds of dead animals within the depth of the cave. The smell was enough to break the hook and Alisea ran from the cave. Once near the water's edge, she dry-heaved and coughed, trying to clear her nose and lungs from the horrific smell. Whatever caused that smell, she felt that she never wanted to find out


	25. Chapter 25

"Flinn aye? ' Had a friend named Flinn once, 'been dead now for three years, I think?" Said Richard, taking out his pipe and stuffing it into his worn coat pocket; this, of course, did not ease Flinn's unease over the man, but he simply smiled at Richard.

"What does your friend look like?" Richard looked around the surrounding fog.

"She has long, copper hair and deep soulful eyes…" Flinn stopped when Richard began to chuckle at his description of Alisea. He looked up at the elderly man with a questioning expression, since he could not remember saying anything funny. "It has been a while since I heard any one describe someone like that." There was a glimmer in the old man's eyes, a glimmer of remembering a distant past. With another smile and node of understanding, the two men made their way in the direction that Flinn thought Alisea must have went.

XXXXX

Still heaving at the water's edge, Alise heard footsteps on the gravely sand slowly approaching her. She tried to get up, but stumbled and fell back to the ground, her mind dizzy, and her eyes still unfocused from her experience in the cave. Slowly a new figure came into view; it was a familiar figure that she had often seen now and it made her heart jump with relieve.

"Oh Willow!" Alisea, once again, attempted to get to her feet and was successfully able to reach her dear friend. Desperately, she warped her arms around her friend's frail figure and held her close like a child their mother. "My, oh my, you are shaking. Is everything alright, did something happened?" Willows voice was soft and calm; she gently stocked Alisea's copper hair, trying to calm her down.

"The cave, there is something wrong with that cave." Alisea found it difficult to speak her voice was trembling. Willow let go of her friend and made her way to the cave; she takes a quick look around and then returns to shaken friend. "I think some animal made its way into the cave to die." Her voice was flat and her eyes, which are otherwise bright and glowing, appeared dull and slightly grey. She, gently, put her arm around Alisea's shoulders and started guiding her away from the cave and back in the direction Alisea had come from.

After a few minutes, Alisea could feel Willow's hand clench down on her shoulder. In the distance, barely visible from the fog, Alisea could make out two figures. One was shorter than the other was and had a more fluent walk; the other was taller, broader, and walked with a slight limp. As the two women came closer to the two men, Alisea could make out that the younger man was Flinn, but the other was a stranger to her.

XXXXX

Flinn could feel his heart beat with joy and relieve when he saw Alisea safe and accompanied by Willow. He only wondered why Willow had pulled the hat, that Alisea had given her on their way to the island, so low that it hid all but her lower jaw line. When the two women drew closer and there was less fog between the four, Flinn's heart sank when he saw the shaken expression on Alisea's face. "Alisea, is everything alright?" he rushed to her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. He could feel her shake under his hands.

"I lost the person, but came across a…..a cave…" once again Alisea could feel her through tighten and nausea starts in her stomach. " There is something wrong with it." She could not continue.

"I looked at it myself, I think a large animal must have hidden there to die." Said Willow, she had slightly altered her voice and refused to look up at the other person. Flinn found this behavior questionable, but then remembered that Willow had fled this island to escape dangerous people, so he let it slide. Perhaps willow recognized Richard and was worried of having her identity revealed.

"If you are talkin' 'bout that old cave down the way, that is known as death cave. ' Cause it stinks like death. It is deep. 'Been there myself, but it is so dark and smelly, 'hardly made it half way in." explained Richard, Alisea's shaken expression reminded him of his own, first encounter, with the cave. His attention moved away from the young captains, reminded him of a love he once lost. His attention wondered to the young women accompanying the young female captain. From what he could see, there was not much because of the jacket and hat, he noted her beautiful red hair and fair skin. She was tall and thin, though a little too thin for his liking and he wondered how she was able to move about. Her red hair also reminded him of someone he once knew, but the red hair was all both she and that person held in common. "I say you two get off the beach and back to where you from. Poor girl is frightened to the bone."

"Good idea Richard, it was nice meeting you." Flinn smiled at the old man and then gently slipped one arm over Alisea's shoulders. His heart rose as he felt her shaking ease.

"No problem, if you need me, I am always somewhere on the beach." He then slightly lifted his hat and walked on in the direction of the cave; disappearing in the fog before he had even walked ten feet. Flinn, with Alisea under his arm and Willow walking beside them, led his shaken friend back to the Inn, where he laid her down on a sofa in the living room. With a warm fire burning in the large fireplace and a cozy blanket draped over her, Alisea could feel her nerves start to ease. Lillian brought her a cup of tea, not as much to comfort Alisea, but to have an excuse to be in the same room as Flinn despite the mountain of chores he had to do.

"Flinn, I do not think I can continue today. I am sorry." Alisea looked down at her cup in defeat. She then felt Flinn give her a gentle hug, which made her heart race a little. "It is alright," he said, "as long as you are alright, that is all the truly matter." Again, Alisea could feel her heartbeat quicken and her cheeks slightly blush; this however is thwarted when Lillian's voice peeped up.

"Perhaps I can help. I know the island like the back of my hand."

"Are you sure, with your eyes?" Flinn turned to Lillian and he gave her a friendly smile.

"As said, I know this island like the back of my hand and you, and your friends, will leave tomorrow, so I suggest taking advantage of this day as much as possible."

Alisea only nodes her head when Flinn asks her if she would be alright with this. Within a few minutes, Flinn and Lillian were gone and Alisea hung her head. Willow, however, had shot Lillian a dirt look, which remained on her face even when the young girl was gone. Her hands clenched and dark shadows began to form in her mind.


	26. Chapter 26

Back in the fog, Flinn noticed how Lillian clung to his arm. He tried to keep a little distance from her, but the more he tried the closer she tried to get to him, he gave up and assumed that she was cold. They had made it back to the beach, where he hoped to spot the person once again; he secretly hoped that person was Janet. The figure had appeared small enough to give credence to that idea. Flinn strained his eyes against the fog, but never managed to see further than a few feet and every step was wobbly and uncertain, caused from the rock that moved and shifted with every set. He secretly began to envy Lillian's feathery steps; it was as if she floated upon the rocks. In the distance, Flinn began to notice a figure and his hopes rose that it might be Janet and that their efforts might not have been for nothing, but the closer they came, the clearer it became that the figure was Richard. Internally, Flinn felt crushed. The closer they came to Richard, the clearer Flinn could see that he stood hunched over as if in pain or mourning. "Richard, it everything alright?" Flinn called out to the old man, who slightly jumped at the sound of another person's voice and quickly spun around.

"Ah, Flinn, Nah m'boy; Just overwhelmed by memories." Replied the old man, rubbing a few thick tears from his eyes.

"Must have been some memory to upset you so much." Commented Lillian, pretending to be concerned over the old man's well-being. She was a little jealous that this old man, who had lived the best years of his life, had taken Flinn's attention away from her. "I have never seen you so shaken."

"It's nothin', Miss…" Richard cleared his throat, "it's just that the sight of your friend brought back memories of one I lost."

"I am sorry Sir." Said Flinn, thinking that Richard had meant Alisea. Flinn thought that Richard must have had a love similar to her. He could feel his heart sink at the thought of ever losing her.

"I think Alisea should apologize for giving you such distress." Said Lillian, without a second thought. After all, if she had given someone such heartache, her grandmother would have forced her to apologize as well. She wondered why Flinn's arm stiffened under her grip.

"Oh no, it wasn't that young Miss, it was her friend with the fiery hair." Richard, again, cleared his throat and returned the pipe to his mouth. "I had a lover with hair like her's. The sight of it reminded me. But she is long gone. Died of an illness of the heart said her parents. Also long gone."

"I bet her death must have been a tremendous loss." Said Flinn absent-mindedly and then mentally kicked himself for rubbing salt in a recently reopened wound.

"Aye, it was. She used to sing and dance in the town's square. 'Was close to wedding her too." The old man's eyes filled with tears of remembrance. A thin smile crossed his lips as he remembered his long lost love's voice; he remembered how it sounded like birds singing. For a moment, he could hear it even now as an old man.

"Well no wonder she got ill, no one sings and dances in this fog. Anyone who does practically begs to end their life soon." Again, Lillian spoke without giving much thought to the feeling she injured. She, in addition, did not understand why Flinn suddenly pulled his arm free of her grasp. She pretended it did not bother her. Richard, however, did not seem to have his feelings injured by her harsh words.

"She wasn't like others on this blasted island. She lived life to the fullest and dared the fog to catch her. 'Remember her climbing the highest tree I have ever known, just to save a baby bird." Richard's mood then began to change for the worse. "I had been a coward in the last weeks of her life. I had saved money to get wedding rings, but when she became ill, I never visited her and gave her the ring. Even at her funeral, I never managed to give her that ring." He once again felt his eyes swell with tears and he ended his story there. "But again, this was all a long time ago and it is better I keep the dead at rest." The Oldman, again, adjusted his hat and pipe, nodded a hardy goodbye to the two young adults, and moved on along the stony shore before disappearing in the fog.

Without a word to Lillian, Flinn started moving back along the shore in the direction he had come from. Lillian, slightly angered by both Richard's saddening tale and Flinn's sudden harshness, rushed after him. She called his name, but he continued to make his way back to the inn without giving her a second glance.

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At the town's records, a stuffy, library-like, building with narrow windows and dark interior. Everything on the inside was dark, old, and the smell of musty dust clung to it and anyone who visited. With their clothes sticking to their bodies like glue and their fingers caked in dust from the records, Myri and Shill sat at a great, dark wooden, table bent over piles and piles of records. The record keeper, an old man with a long gray beard, had only glanced at them once when they had shown up and had not made an effort to help them or see if they needed anything. Their eyes, heads, and shoulders were sore as if they had studied for an important exam. Still, they felt safer in this stuffy record house, then out in the fog, where anything and anyone could sneak up on one. Though they had spent hours hunched over the records, like yesterday, they came up empty-handed. Since their captains were certain that Janet was alive and still on the island. Sadly, the records did not support their claims. After the note of her death, two years ago, she was never mentioned again. There was not even a mention of where her funeral plot lay.

If she was alive, then there should have been a record of where she resided or if she had changed her name, a record of a new resident surfacing in her place, but there was none of this. It was as if Janet had been swallowed by the fog. "I have had enough, if Flinn and Alisea have not found anything by the time we get back to the Inn, I am leaving in the morning." Grumbled Myri, she had had enough of the island, its' fog, its unhelpful citizens, the Inn, the unwelcoming Innkeeper, the uncomfortable beds, and Lillian.

"I hate to agree with you." Murmured Shill under his breath. He too had grown tired of the island and he wondered how his sister was doing, this was the longest he had ever left her side. It felt wrong to be gone from her for so long. With a heavy sigh, Myri slammed the records shut that sat in front of her and got up. "Enough, for all I care, Janet is dead."

"Don't say that Myri." Shill secretly agreed with her but felt it wrong to write such a young soul off as dead.

"Why not? We were never asked by the principle to come here and rescue his niece. If we are unsuccessful, maybe the next rescue party will have more luck, but I have had enough. I am going back to the Inn, eat dinner, and then I will go to bed." This she did, with Shill hurrying behind her. They left to quickly from the record house that the records were left on the table, where they would remain for several days before the record keeper thought it necessary to put them away.


	27. Chapter 27

Having rowed for the rest of the previous night and all of the next day, Thomas was more than tired when he managed to get the boat to shore. The sight of a ghost ship moving through the Eldorado had given him enough of a fright to last for all those hours without rest, but now his arms felt like pudding. Luckily, Donnie had not woken up, but it did worry him slightly. He did not like her much, but he did not her to die either; at least not so young. Leaning back in the boat, his arms resting to his side, he thought of how he regretted his decision to sneak away on the Eldorado to some unknown destination. He also felt lucky how he had managed to get the boat to shore without crashing into any of the sharp rocks, despite the fog. He also hated the fog, it was cold, clammy, blinding, and hid any approaching danger from view. His eyes felt heavy and the boat's wooden rim felts as comfortable as any pillow. With his eyes closed, he began to relax and the world around him began to fade away. For a second, he thought h heard Donnie stir and murmur something, but he did not care at this point if she woke up now. He felt the boat move slightly; it could have been a wave. He smelled something foul, but it was only a small whiff and then it was gone, perhaps a dead animal. His consciousness started to fade, but then the boat moved again and the smell returned; it was stronger this time. He opened his eyes slightly since they felt as heavy as led; through blurry vision, he saw something glowing red in front of his face. His eyes fell shut again; his mind was running, but his body felt paralyzed from exhaustion. The smell became worse and the boat rocked some more as if something was climbing in and out of it. His heart began to race and he prayed in his mind as he felt something cold touch his face; it poked his cheeks and ran something along the bridge of his nose as if testing his flesh. Again, he tried to force his eyes open, but he managed only a small slit; he wished he had kept them closed as a pair of red eyes looked back at him.

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At the Inn, Flinn paced back and forth in the living room as Myri and Shill reported their findings. He felt crushed at having failed at his mission. He was glad that Willow had taken Alisea to another room; he was sure that the news of all her heart ship was for nothing would have troubled her mind and upset her even more. It also did not make sense that Janet would be dead; he and Alisea had seen her. "And that she is dead is your final verdict?" he asked with his head hung low.

"It is supported by the evidence; there simply is not evidence that she is alive. Even if she were, why would she disappear from sight, why would she let the town write her down as dead, why would she run away from the news of her uncle, why would she not write back to her uncle and aunt? We tried everything we could on this island for the time we planned; maybe the next rescue team will have more luck in finding her." Said Shill, he tried to comfort his friend but knew there was little he could say and he knew that. He too felt crushed at all their efforts being for nothing; it felt as though fate had a laugh at their expense.

"Well, our trip was not completely useless. With our information, the next crew will have something to build their rescue mission on and they know what to expect from the island. We could have done better ourselves if we had some information on the island, its' people, and how she was recorded." Added Myri with her arms crossed, she could still smell the record house on her. "Face it, we were unprepared."

Flinn nodded his head in acknowledgment, but it did not help his mood. Lillian then walked into the room, a small frown on her face; she was still a little angry with Flinn for walking away from her on the beach the way he did, but she also knew that this was her last evening with Flinn and she decided to forgive him silently. "So, you guys are going to leave tomorrow morning?" she asked, though she knew the answer.

Flinn, again, nodded his head; he was still slightly disgusted with her. The others left for bed, no one was particularly hungry, and Flinn sat down on the sofa that sat in the corner. He kept his head hung low. To his dismay, Lillian sat next to him; her foggy eyes looked at the lit fireplace. He had to admit that she was pretty. Her golden hair glowed with the firelight and her pale skin shown like parceling, but to him, she was just a pretty mask hiding a hideous face. "It is going to be pretty lonely here with you gone." She mentioned, giving him a light smile.

He ignored her.

She moved a little closer to him, her arm rubbing against his, and she smiled a little more. She had readjusted herself so that her chest stuck out a little more. Still, he ignored her. "Is something wrong?" her voice was as sweet as honey.

"I am tired and worried." His voice was dry and low.

"Why are you worried?" she tried to look at his face, but he moved his head lower. He did not care to look her in the face. It made him sick.

"Alisea, she was shaken up so often in these past few days. I am worried that it might have a negative impact on her." He was honest. Whenever he saw her shaken, covered in dirt, injured, burse, etc. It made him uneasy. Whenever he saw her like that, he had to force himself in place to keep from rushing at her and wrapping his arms around her. He had felt like that since the first moment he saw her. He had never understood why his heart chose her, but he knew better than to question it. With her, he felt complete.

With her, the sun rose.

"She will be fine." Said Lillian, it was obvious that she was displeased that his mind was occupied by another woman. She also cursed herself; she thought, if she had better teacher outside of books, that she would have been able to seduce his heart into loving her. He was the first handsome man to come near her, to talk to her, to help her, and she did not want this man to leave. She moved even closer to him; it was less than an inch, but her heart raced nonetheless. "It is cold here, despite the fire. It is the one thing I hate about this island. You never truly get warm. If I ever leave this island, I will make a home out in a big city. It would have a huge garden and in that garden, I would plant sunflowers. I think they are better than roses. Roses have thorns, why bother with that, if you can have a flower without." Her eyes gazed out in the distance. No doubt envisioning her dream.

"If you live in the big city, you would not have a garden. There simply is not the space for one." He muttered under his breath. He wanted to move away, but he was too tired. He inwardly gowned as she leaned her head on his shoulder. If it had not been for the incident at the beach, he would have been nervous, but she had insulted his sun and this was unforgivable. Like the time he punched Thomas for speaking ill of her, he disliked Lillian. The only reason he did not mistreat her was that she was a woman and his upbringing forbid it. Inwardly, he smiled at her sudden realization and thereby resulting frown.

"You really know how to crush one's mood." She muttered at him, but, again, she forgave him and plastered a smile on her face. She moved her face a little closer to his, making sure to move her hair so that it released the scent of lilacs. "You are angry at me." It was a statement, not a question.

"You did say some hurtful things to a person who was in pain." Said Flinn, reminding her of their encounter with Richard.

"So did you." She replied and moved a little closer. There were only a few inches lay between them and the scent of lilacs overwhelmed him. She was right, but he felt that she had said words that were more hurtful than he. As he tried to reply, she pressed her lips against his. The lilacs surrounded him to the point of nausea and his stomach sunk, his lungs seized up and his shoulders jerked. He pushed her away as a person would push away a bag of garbage. He pushed her so hard she fell off the sofa and hit the hardwood floor on her butt. She looked up at him in shock; her cheeks burned.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" He shouted at her. He shot up and whipped his mouth on his sleeve. Her kiss tasted bitter to him.

"I thought…"

"You thought what, that I shared any feelings for you?" he did not wait for her reply, nor did he wait to help her up from the floor. He stormed past her, down the hall, and slammed his bedroom door behind him. He made sure to lock it before falling, face first, on the bed. His stomach felt horrible; though he had not wanted it, this small kiss felt as though he had betrayed his sun. He buried his face in his pillow out of shame.

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Alisea, after Willow practically forced one slice bread into her stomach, like a mother would thought of returning to the living room to warm by the fire. The island made her feel as though a bundled office had formed at her core. She had barely stuck her head in when she noticed Lillian and Flinn sitting on the sofa and she quickly stepped back away from the doorway. Her cheeks turning warm. Pressed against the wall separating the entrance hall from the living room, she tried to listen to their conversation. She could barely hear it, but she could tell, by the tone of Lillian's voice, that she was flirting with him. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Alisea looked at the exact moment that Lillian pressed her lips against his. Her stomach fell and her heart seized up. She ran back to her room and slammed the door shut behind her. She felt her keens become weak and she leaned against the door for support. The door was not enough to hold her and she slid down to the floor against it. Her cheeks burned and tears began to flow from her eyes. Oh, how she hated him; she hated her heart for having chosen him. Out of all the men in the world, it had to be him. Him, who had shown more affection to other, stranger, women than her.

What had she done to deserve this?

She could not think of anything. Perhaps she was not like them enough; pretty, flirtatious, wearing dresses. She breathed heavy, but it did not help the choking feeling in her chest and throat. Alone in her room, she cried against the door.

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Lillian, crestfallen, got up from the floor, brushed the dirt off her dress, and turned to come face to face with Willow; her green eyes glowed. Lillian could not help, but freeze up at the sight of her.

"Hello Willow, you are up late." Lillian heard her own voice shake.

"So are you, but I need you. You see, there is something wrong with my window. There is a draft and it is keeping be from sleeping." Said Willow, her voice sounding tired and slightly angered. Lillian guessed it was the draft.

"Oh, well then, I guess I should wake Moma so she can fix it for you." She could feel her nerves ease a little.

"Oh, why bother the old lady, can you not just get me a few rags and help me put them in place for tonight. I swear it will only take a minute." Willow pleaded. Lillian thought it through for a second and decided to leave her grandmother sleeping. She quickly fetched a few rags from the kitchen and followed Willow to her room, the floorboards creaked under their weight. "I am so sorry for bothering you, but it already bothered me last night and I simply could not take it anymore." Willow sighed with a tired voice.

"Don't be sorry, I am glad I can be of some use." Chirped Lillian with a smile at the young women. The smile quickly faded when Willow opened the door to her room and the rags fell to the floor.

"Oh dear, the wind must have blown the window open." Willow's voice sounded unsurprised and she moved closer to the wide-open window; its' curtains fluttered in the breeze. Lillian felt frozen to the spot. She could not fathom how the window could be open. They had always been nailed shut since she was born. She wanted to run, but could not. Willow gestured for Lillian to come closer to her and the open window. "Come, the night is wonderful. You can hardly see an inch outside the window." Her eyes were soft and her voice soothing, like honey. Despite her mind yelling at her to run, her feet began to move closer to the window.

Now, only a foot away from the open window, Lillian felt Willow's arm wrapped around her shoulders. Her heart quivered, her breathing froze, her body stiffened, her eyes widened with terror, and tears flowed down her cheeks as the glow of two red eyes moved closer to the window.


	28. Chapter 28

Having cried to the point where her eyes no longer produced tears, Alisea sat, leaning against the door, trying to catch her breath. Her eyes felt heavy, but her mind and body were too awake to let her go to sleep. Her mind was just beginning to wonder when she heard a knock on her door.

"May I come in?" it was Willow, her voice sounded sweet, warm, and comforting; it was this comfort that Alisea needed. She pulled herself off the floor and, without a word, opened the door to her dear friend. She did not hide her emotions, her teary eyes, or her tear stained cheeks. "Oh dear, what happened?" she then pulled Alisea into a tight hug and gently rubbed her back. Alisea wrapped her arms around her friend's thin frame and buried her face in the thin women's shoulder. It felt good to be in Willow's arms. She was something sturdy to hang on to when the world became too much to handle. After a long moment, Willow pushed her friend away enough to look into her face. "Now, tell me, what happened?"

"It is nothing important." Alisea knew her voice betrayed her.

"Obviously it is not unimportant. Now tell me." She helped her friend to the bed, where the two sat down and Alisea rested her head on Willow's shoulder.

"I saw Lillian and…" she felt her throat close up again and her eyes felt wet with new tears. Again, her shoulders shivered as the young captain tried to keep from crying. She was so preoccupied with controlling her tears, that she hardly noticed Willow placing her arms around her shoulders and pulled her a little closer. "I can't…"

"I understand," her voice was soft and warm; her hand was gently rubbing Alisea's arm in a vain attempt of comfort. "The best thing to do is to forget him. There, are others that are more worthy of your love and attention."

"I don't know if I can. I loved him so dearly."

"Then why would he break your heart?"

"Maybe, I did not show him enough of my love?"

"That is ridiculous; how much love was you suppose to show him without losing your dignity. Trust me, it is better you forget him. The initial start is hard, but after a while, he will be nothing more than a memory." Willow's voice dropped to a soft whisper and she gently combed Alisea's hair wither fingers. She could feel the young women under arms start to relax and go limp.

Soon, the young captain was asleep in her arms.

Quietly and gently, she lay the young captain down on the bed before leaving the room, making sure the door made no sound as she closed it behind her.

XXXXX

His head ached and throbbed, his vision was blurry and eyelids heavy, and his nose burned from a noxious odder that surrounded him. Thomas tried to lift his head, but it felt like it was filled with lead. He tried again and winced at the pain in his neck that originated from his head hanging low. As his senses returned, he noticed that he was tied up, with his hands pinned to either side of his head and in a dark place. He leaned his head back against the wall that kept him pinned and noted how damp it felt against his head, neck, and back. Again, he tried to open his eyes, only to fail again. Suddenly, from next to him, he heard something move. "Donnie, is that you?" his voice shook a little from fear.

"Huh?" moaned the person next to him; their voice was weak and dry. "Thomas, you bastard, where am I?" it was Donnie, and she was not happy.

"I do not know I cannot open my eyes."

"What do you mean, did you not bring me here?" he heard panic starting to seep into her voice, though he could not see her, he felt her fear and wished he could comfort her, though he secretly wanted some comfort himself.

"No, I only got us to the island. I have no idea where we are now." He tried to conceal the panic in his own voice in the vain hope of keeping the both of them from losing their mind in this situation. "Can you see where we are?"

"Not really, it is too dark." Her voice quivered and he could hear her feet scraping against the ground as she was starting to struggle against her restraints. "Why does it smell so bad?"

"I do not know, maybe we are in someone's basement." He tried to make sense of the situation, but even his explanation did not seem to help.

"That is not helping, Thomas." She snarled at him, "Besides, why would someone put us in their basement?"

"Maybe they know we are pirates and they are afraid of them?"

"That is still no reason to tie us up like this, in the dark, surrounded by this horrid smell, and without making sure we are still alive?" she struggled one more time, then gave up and slumped against the wall. She left her eyes starting to tear up from the smell that surrounded them. At least, that is what she told herself.

Both nearly jumped out of their skin, when they heard something that sounded like a sack of potatoes crashing to the ground near them. It gave off a small groan and then was still.

"W-What w-w-was that?" Donnie could feel her heart begin to race from fear to the point where she could hear it in her head.

"I do not know, but it sounded like a person."

XXXXX

Sitting in a chair in the Inn's women's quarter's hallway, Willow waited for the morning when she and Alisea could leave this cursed island and start their life anew as mother and daughter. She was just beginning to imagine their home that they would make when she heard the old floorboards creaking and groaning, warning her of someone coming in her direction. The smell gave it off before she saw them. She smelled the unmistakable smell of must, dust, and cobwebs that followed the old hag that owned this wreck of an Inn.

"Where is she!" the old women's formed a snarl at Willow. Her wrinkled face contorting in anger in a way that caused her to look like an angry bulldog. The small candle she was holding did not help her features. In fact, it gave her an almost ghoulish appearance.

"Pardon?" she gave the old hag a meager attempt at a smile, she secretly wished this old, smelly women would just drop dead.

"My Lillian is missing, where is she?" spittle started to drip from her chin. If looks could kill, then Willow would have been dead ten times over. "I have checked her room and she is not there, where is she?"

"I do not know, but have you checked the male quarters? She has been flirtatious with one captain I know."

"My Lillian would never go for a lowlife pirate, now tell me, where is she?" she shook her gnarled finger at Willow, her fingernail resembling a tree root more than a normal fingernail.

"Alright old bag, you got me. I'll show you." She sighed with a shrug and led the old women down the hall and to the door that led to the Inn's cellar. "I hid her in here, she is fine."

The old women practically tore open the door and yelled down the stairs, "Lillian!" the old women was listening intensely for a response of her beloved grandchild; she never noticed Willow approaching her from behind until it was too late and she went crashing down the old wooden steps that led into the dark and damp basement. The candle extinguished before it even reached the bottom.

XXXXX

Alisea awoke with a jolt; she had a sinking feeling in her stomach that something was not right. Quietly, she crept out of her room and made her way down the hallway, her eyes barely adjusted to the darkness that surrounded her. She had not gotten far when she bumped into someone, she practically jumped out of her skin and was about to run when she heard a familiar voice.

"Do not be scared, it is only I.," whispered Willow and she gently placed her hands on Alisea's shoulders. "Is everything alright? You are shaking."

"Willow, thank god you are here. Something is wrong I can feel it, we need to tell the innkeeper."

"Tell her what? That you have a bad feeling?" the more Alisea thought about it, the more she realized that waking the old women over a bad feeling was ridiculous. Still shaking, she let Willow lead her back to her room. Since she did not feel particularly tired, she leaned against the windowsill to gaze out at the fog-hidden town. Despite how creepy it was during the day, during the night it was a soothing sight to help with restlessness. Just before she was about to go to bed, she noticed something move in the fog. The swirls of the fog parted for just a second, but that second was enough for Alisea to see the small ghostly face of someone familiar.

It was Janet.

"Janet." She gasped under her breath before rushing out of her room as if the devil was upon her. She ran past Willow, who had returned to her seat in the hallway, down the hall, through the entrance parlor, and out the door without giving Willow, Flinn, or the others a second thought. Once out in the streets, she saw Janet at the end of the road, heading into the darkness. Without a second thought, Alisea pursued her. She did not even notice Willow, giving chase and calling her name. Alisea chased Janet well out of the town's limits and out into the unknown, which he had not noticed because of the fog. She managed to keep Janet in her sight. A small voice in her head told her something was wrong, but she paid it no attention. She managed to keep up with Janet until her foot got caught on something that caused her to hit the ground face first. As her head rang from pain, she took in her surrounding and froze when she came face to face with yet another headstone. Yet, it was not the presence of the headstone that shocked her; she had figured that Janet would lead her back to the boneyard; it was what was written on that weather-stained and weed overgrown stone that caused her heart to stop for a minute and shook her to her core.

XXXXX

Willow, having had trouble keeping up with her new daughter, finally managed to catch up with her. She was back in the graveyard and was kneeling before a headstone, but it was not just any headstone; it was one that was well known to her. "Alisea…" her voice caught in her throat.

"Willow, can you explain this?" the young captain did not take her eyes off the headstone. She kept her eyes fixed on the words engraved on the stone in front of her. Despite the growth of weeds and ivy that had covered the stone and ground in front of it, the words were still clear enough for her to read.

Willow Hearth

!800-1819

Beloved Angel May She Rest from Life and Be Granted Eternal Bliss

"Willow, please, tell me that this is a different Willow." Once again, tears started to flow from her eyes and her throat choked up. She could not breathe and the world was spinning around her. She turned to her friend with desperation in her eyes and her fingers digging into the ground. "Tell me it is not you!" She let the tears flow freely from her hazel eyes and she desperately searched for an answer from her friend.

Willow only shook her head, "I am sorry Alisea."


	29. Chapter 29

"How is this possible?" her voice shook as she stared at her friend. She looked so alive and felt so solid. She knew there was something wrong with her bodily fluids, but other than that, she was alive for all Alisea could judge. "Do not just stand there, tell me!" she let her tears flow freely.

"Alisea, please, let us just get back to the Inn and forget this ever happened." She tried to take a step closer to her friend, but Alisea only moved further away from her.

"No, not until you tell me the meaning of this!" at this point, Willow knew there was no way out of this was, with a heavy sigh, she relayed to Alisea her story.

"I was sick for such a long time and I was in so much pain; one day I just gave up. I was so tired and I was all alone; not even my parents wanted to come and see me. The moment I coughed up the blood they were gone and the man I loved deserted me; I had nothing left to live for. After I was buried, he brought me back to work for him."

"Who?" Alisea interrupted, she tried her hardest to understand the situation until a third party became involved. "Who brought you back?"

"The Gray Man." At this, Alisea's blood ran cold. She thought he was just the legend of the town and Flinn even told her how the legend came about if the story was true. The thought of such a monster actually existing and bringing people back from the dead, mortified her. Willow could read the unspoken question in her daughter's eyes.

"He brought me back because I could get people to open their doors for me, then I would open their windows for him. I wish I could go back and stop him from bringing me back; I have caused so much pain over the years." She quietly approached Alisea and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders, feeling her shake by her touch.

"You have been dead for over half a century, why now do you think what he is doing is wrong?" a new look crossed her eyes. Alisea now looked at her friend with anger and disgust. "Why would you ever work for that vile creature?"

Willow began to lose her patience with her new daughter. "He brought me back. I was free of pain. He showed me kindness and he allowed me to take vengeance on those who chose to abandon me when I needed them most." Her fingers began to press down on Alisea's flesh. "I wanted to stop once all who abandoned me were gone, but he would not let me. I fled before I would hurt the innocent generation." At this, her new daughter shook her head.

"I do not believe you. You hurt others because you hated them. They were scared of your sickness and you hated that they were alive."

"So what if I did?" she hissed. Now her nails were starting to dig into Alisea's shoulders, but Alisea did not flinch from the pain.

"It makes you as vile as him!"

"No, it does not! These people here are evil selfish monsters that would abandon you without a second thought!" she no longer cared to mask her anger towards her new daughter. "How dare you compare me to them?"

"You are just like them; you cared only for your revenge. You never even gave it a thought of whom you sent to their death!" With that, Alisea practically tore Willows hands from her, sadly, Willow did not take kindly to that action. Having had enough of Alisea's rude behavior, she gave the young captain a hard shove. In that moment, she forgot about her other "little secret," which was the hole at the base of her headstone that she used, not just to escape from her grave, but also to drop extra victims for the gray man. The moment Alisea was swallowed by the earth, the weeds and vines covered the hole back up as if it never existed.

For a long while, she stood in front of that grave with her hands trembling. She did not even notice the skeletal figure approaching her from behind.

XXXXX

For a long time, Thomas and Donnie sat there is silence; occasionally Donnie would break out in quiet sobs of panic, but other than that they were silent. The person who had been dropped in had not made a single sound. Both practically jumped when yet another person was dropped into their trap.

"Who is it?" Donnie whispered to Thomas, afraid that it might be someone dangerous.

"I cannot see, I cannot open my eyes." He whispered back with fear edging his voice.

XXXXX

Alisea's mind was blank for a moment after she hit the ground. She could not think, she could not feel, and she could not move. The first thing that hit her was the ungodly stench of decay and metal and wet earth. The second thing that registered within her dazed mind was that she was in the dark. The third realization was that there was a searing pain in her left wrist, which she had fallen onto when hitting the ground. Finally, she realized that she was not alone when she heard the whispers. With a groan, she rolled onto her back to get the weight off her wrist, wincing when she tried to move it. From a corner, not far from her, she heard a familiar voice.

"Alisea, is that you?" it was Lillian. Her voice was weak and shaky, but there.

"Yeah, Lillian, is that you?" from another corner, she heard yet another familiar voice. She had heard that voice a million times.

"Alisea, thank God you are here." It was Donnie and she was close to tears. She tried to fight against her restraints again so she could embrace her friend but gave up on the notion when the metal cufflinks would not give way.

"Donnie, why are you here?" she sat up while cradling her injured wrist. To her it did not make sense, she and Flinn left her on the Eldorado to keep her away from this place.

"You should ask Thomas this." She moved her foot to kick his leg, though she wished she could have strangled him. Little did she know that Alisea was having the same thought.

"To my defense, I never planned on taking you with me to this cursed island." He hissed at Donnie and gave her a kick back.

"And to my defense, I never planned on having you on my ship when we sailed here!" growled Alisea as she got up; her eyes were adjusting to the darkness and she could see that, not only were Donnie and Thomas chained to the wall, but that she and Lillian were separated from them by iron bars. Apparently, the hole in the ground at Willow's grave leads to a cage. Knowing she could do nothing to help Donnie and Thomas, she moved to Lillian, who lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. When she got to her, she noticed that Lillian was bleeding from an injury to her head. Her foggy eyes were hazy and unfocused, her complexion was pale and sickly, and her breathing was shallow and uneven. Alisea did not ask how she got here; she figured that Willow was at fault. Taking pity on the girl, Alisea took her headband from her head and wrapped it around Lillian's head to ease the bleeding.

All the while, tears ran from Alisea's eyes.

XXXXX

After from a few hours of sleep, Flinn awoke once again with a jolt. His breathing was labored as if he had been under water for a long time and sweat was running from his forehead as though he had a fever. His throat was sore and burned as though he had been screaming and his heart was racing as if he had been running for his life. It took him a minute to realize he was in his room at the Inn. After catching his breath, he decided that sleep was the last thing on his mind and he got out of bed. He wondered why he always awoke with such utter terror in this Inn, but he only shook his head and made his way out of the room and down the hall. For some reason, he had the urge to go to Alisea's room. He knew that the old women had forbidden the men and women being in the same bedroom, but something was telling him to check on her.

As he walked past the door to the basement, which was next to the hall that leads to the women's quarter, a strange shiver ran down his spine as he saw the open door. It had been closed for the entire time he and his friends had been there, but he only shook his head again and moved on. As he got to her door, he hesitated for a second before knocking on her door. Secretly he hoped she had not fallen asleep yet; he regretted not having shown her much attention and he still felt guilty for the kiss with Lillian. When she had not responded, Flinn knocked again on Alisea's door, only to notice that her door was not fully closed. Though he knew better from his upbringing, he opened the door quietly and stepped into her dark room. Quietly, he made his way to her bed and gently patted the mattress. He felt the hard and damp cloth of the bed but did not come across her.

She was not in bed.

"She must be in Willow's room," he told himself, but his heart began to race and his thoughts wandered to the open basement door. The familiar sensation of her and worry crept into his consciousness. Quickly he made his way to the room across from Alisea's room, hoping it was Willow's room. His heart sank when he saw that her door, just like Alisea's, was not completely closed. With a shaking hand, he pushed it open and a small cry escaped his throat as he was faced with an open window.

He jumped when he heard a door open behind him and he turned to face a sleepy Myri. "Flinn, what are you doing here?" she said while rubbing her eyes.

"Alisea and Willow are missing!" he grabbed Myri's shoulders in a panic and shook her. "Have you seen where they went?"

"N-no I do not know where they are!" she wrestled free from his grip and, in return, shook him a little. "Now, calm down. Maybe Alisea and Willow went out for some fresh air?" she knew this was a weak attempt at an explanation.

"I'll wake Shill, we have to find them. It is too dangerous out there for them." With that, he rushed back to the men's quarters with Myri giving chase. She stopped when she saw the open basement door, at which point she froze in place. She had a strange feeling about the door, a feeling that told her to continue running. Part of her wanted to follow what the feeling was telling her, but she went against it and approached the door. At the top of the stairs, she felt her hands shake and her heart race. She stood there for a few seconds and let her eyes adjust to dark, which she wished she had not when she saw the body laying at the bottom of the stairs. With a stumble, she fell back away from the basement door and into her friend Shill, causing both to fall to the ground.

"Ow, what on earth is going on?" Shill's, high voice groaned from beneath Myri.

"Th-th-there…a d-d-dead body!" she pointed a shaking finger at the basement door as Flinn and Shill helped her to her feet. Once on her feet, Flinn ran down the basement stairs in a panic. When Flinn returned, he was pale in the face and out of breath from racing up the stairs.

"It is the Innkeeper, she is dead." Was all he said before placing a hand on both Shill and Myri. "We have to find Willow and Alisea, by the break of dawn we contact the authorities, and then we leave." He said to them in a shaking voice; his eyes set on the floor. It was then that the three felt a chilling draft cross them; their eyes then moved to the entrance door.

It was slightly open.

Having seemingly forgotten his shaken friends, Flinn dashed out the door and into the empty, foggy streets. His heart raced like that of a galloping horse as his eyes roamed the fog-ridden streets for anything resembling a person. As his eyes roamed, his eyes landed on a figure at the end of his vision.

It was Janet.

She looked just like she did in the drawing and when he last saw her. There she was down to the detail; from the slight curls in her hair held back by a bow, the slight heart shape of her face, and the small heart-shaped pendant that hung from her neck. Her eyes were solemn and she beckoned for him to follow. Flinn ran to catch up with her; he knew she would lead him to Alisea, he did not know how he knew, but a voice told him to follow her. He did not even notice Myri and Shill rushing out of the Inn.

Though he had been only a few feet away when he started chasing after her, he had trouble keeping up with her. His knee felt like someone was stabbing him with a hot knife and the foggy air choked the breath from his lungs, making it hard to keep up with the young girl. He cursed when he saw she gained distance and he felt the ground under his feet grow more and more unsteady. He quickly realized that Janet was leading him to the beach, which caused his already injured knee to burn more. Twice he almost stumbled because of his knee and he regretted ever jumping out of the principal's office window. Just as he was about to give up, he noticed that Janet had stopped; when he came closer he saw that she had stopped in front of the opening to a cave. Immediately he realized that it was the cave that must have shaken Alisea earlier in the day and Janet was pointing to the opening.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked out of breath when he finally caught up with her, his eyes fixed on the opening of the cave. Janet only continued to point at the opening. "I…have to go inside?" Janet answered him with a node. "Is it safe?" Janet shook her head. "Is Alisea in there?" his heart dropped when Janet nodded her head. Taking a deep breath, he entered the darkness of the cave; he walked for a few minutes before a strange smell hit him; the air smelled of copper and decay. After a few more feet, he thought of turning back and getting a light when something hit him over the head.

XXXXX

While kneeling on the ground by Lillian's side, Alisea was startled when a dim light flooded the room, allowing her for the first time to fully see her surroundings. Her eyes roamed over the bare cavern walls, the iron rods build into the stone to form a cage, the shackles on the opposite wall with Thomas and Donnie, Thomas's dark and swollen eyes, the cross-shaped standing table between them, and Willow at the entrance of the cavern with a torch in one hand and an unconscious Flinn in the other. Without looking at anyone, Willow drug Flinn by his hair towards the row of shackles.

"Willow, what are you doing? Let them go!" Alisea pleaded as she tried to shake loose the iron bars keeping her captive. "Willow, please let us go!" again, Willow ignored her and quickly feathered the unconscious captain to the wall with his friends. "Willow, please!"

"She will not listen to you, my dear. She knows better than to defy her master," said a dry, crackling voice from the darkness of the cavern entrance. Slowly the figure the voice belonged to stepped into the dim light of the torch and when Alisea saw it, her blood ran cold. The voice belonged to a skeleton, its bones gray, charred, and dirty; its' glass eyes glowed red and bulged from their sockets; its' jaw moving from side to side and his teeth grinding; it's head and shoulders draped in a top hat and cloak made from mismatching swatches of leather. She did not want to think where the leather came from. When Donnie saw the creature, she gave a small cry of fear and squeezed her eyes shut; huddling into a ball the best she could.

The small cry was enough to wake Flinn, who blinked away tears of protest as the stench stung his eyes when he was finally able to see he wished he could not as he saw the legendary Gray-man. He felt like shrinking back as the skeleton moved closer to him and Willow; it placed his arm comforting around her shoulders. "Mon chéri, please choose our first guest." It gestured its' bonny hand at the five captives.

"We should wait and see what Horace brings. They came here on a boat and left part of their crew behind." Willow's voice was flat and face expressionless. Just then, the sound of something being dragged along the gravely ground was heard from the entrance. Stepping into the cavern was a man; his face covered by a large mustache and one eye covered by a monocular, the other seemed to be missing from its' socket. Smiling, he dragged in two large nets behind him. In one was Pablo and in the other were the two other monsters Lola and Floe, all three were bound and gagged. "Did I miss something?" Horace's voice sounded raspy and gruff.

"Not at all my dear friend, we were waiting on you to bring in your catch!" the skeleton approached Horace and took one of the nets, the one with Floe and Lola, and hung it on a nearby hook. "Willow was just about to choose our first guest, in fact." The skeleton then turned its dirty skull in Willows direction and focused its evil glowing eyes on her, "Now, choose."

Willow looks over the group of captives for a long moment, pausing at each one, before pointing to the cage holding Lillian and Alisea. "She would be a nice start." Following her point, the skeleton approached the cage and attempted to reach past Alisea to grab Lillian, who was drifting in and out of consciousness. Just as he was about to wrap his bony, dirty hand around Lillian's ankle, Alisea gave the bony arm a study kick in the hopes that it would break it; sadly it did not. In fact, it turned the creature's attention on her. It sneered a low hiss at her before grabbing her injured wrist and giving it a hard twist. Alisea cried out as the pain burned its' was up her arm and she fell to her knees with tears flowing from her eyes when the creature finally released her.

In the short time she had been captive in the cage, Alisea had not noticed the small door near the end of the cage, which the skeleton used to grab her by the ankle and drag her out of the cage. Freed from the cage, Alisea was too stunned by the pain in her wrist to fight and quickly found herself tied to the cross-shaped table, where she was tied down to it by leather straps.

"Wait, I pointed to the other one." Protested Willow and she stomped her foot on the ground like a spoiled child. The skeleton only glared at her.

"After your runaway, you deserve one small punishment!" It then walked over to a nearby table, picked up a long, sharp knife, and handed it to Willow, "See it as a good thing. If you do this right, we can make her into a doll and she will remain young and pretty for the rest of existence." Willow hesitated to take the knife from her master's hand. "She will be safe in your care and she will never speak up against you again." Its voice sounded sickly sweet to her. Slowly, she took the knife from her master's hand and made her way to her beloved new daughter.

"Willow, do not listen to him. I know you do not want to do this. Please, Willow, I am sorry!" Alisea's voice shook in fear as Willow drew closer, the blade gleaming in her hand. As Willow drew closer to Alisea, he struggled against his restraints, only to be punched in the face when Willow walked past him. His senses swam and his vision was blurry as he watched Willow stand in front of the tied down Alisea and plunge the knife down at her.


	30. Chapter 30

Alisea never looked away as her dear friend plunged the razor sharp knife towards her neck; her eyes never broke from Willow's and her ears rang with the sound of the blade embedding itself in the hard wood of the table. The blade hardly nicked her neck. At this point, Alisea could not speak, could not think, and could not move. She only felt sorry for Willow when she saw the anguished expression on her friend's face. "I can't…" choked Willow, her voice shook and her hands dropped the blade. " I can't hurt you."

Finally, Alisea found her voice, "It is alright Willow, can't we all just leave this place?" her voice was barely above a whisper and only Willow heard her.

"What are you waiting for mon Cher?" asked the skeleton as he walked over to Willow and picked up the blade she had dropped. "Don't you want her to exist forever with you?"

Willow turned to her master and looked at him with pleading eyes. "I can't hurt her. She is the only child I can ever have. Please let her go, I do not care about the others, but please let her go." She clung to her the tattered remains of her master's skin cape. "I beg of you."

"You expect me to show mercy after you ran away and disobeyed me? Wasn't it I that gave you life after the world took it from you?" Willow hung her head and nodded.

"Wasn't it I that allowed you to take revenge on the families that forsaken you in your time of need?" Again, Willow nodded her head.

"Yet you ask for leniency when I want to give your daughter immortality? I have right to take your life from you." He tore her hands from his cape and pushed her aside; leaving Willow lying impotent on the ground. "If you won't do it, then I will do it for you!" He approached the table and grabbed Alisea's jaw to lift her head, exposing her neck. "I will make it quick and painless for you." Alisea could smell the skeletons rotten, moldy breath as it raised its arm, ready to plunge the blade into her slender neck. Accepting her fate, the young captain closed her eyes and waited for the ice-cold sting of the blade.

Lifting her head to her daughter, Willow was freed from her useless, numb state and hurled herself at her master with a bellowing war cry. When her master's head hit the cave's dirt floor, his red-colored glass eyes popped out and rolled under the table that Alisea was strapped to.

"You spineless traitor!" shouted Horace through his thick, ocean tattered mustache as he pulled his rusty sword from its sheath and charged at her, only to hit the floor when he tripped over Flinn's foot.

Jumping to her feet, Willow grabbed the knife from her master's hand and cut the rope restraint holding Alisea's injured hand. "Here, take this and flee!" she pressed the blade into the young captain's hand, the metal cutting Alisea's skin, before returning her attention to her master in fear. Suddenly, Horace, who had gotten up and come to his master's aid, threw her to the ground. Willow's head hit the ground hard, but it hardly phased her and she clawed her fingers into the dirt to get away from her attackers; all the while, her master crawled around on the ground to find his glass eye.

Using the knife Willow had handed her, slippery with her blood, Alisea managed to free her other hand from the restraints; her hand burning from the rough wooden handle digging into her fresh cut. Trying to keep her mind off the three grotesques on the ground before her, she freed herself and turned to her chained friends. The first she tries to free is Flinn, who smiles at her and tries to pull his wrists free from their restraints. "Are you alright?" he asked, but she did not reply. She dug the tip of the knife into the keyhole in the hopes that she could free him.

Grabbing a nearby rock, Willow swung it at Horace's head; hitting her target and sending Horace to the ground, holding his nose in pain. Still clinging to the rock as if it were a beacon of safety, Willow scrambled to her feet; now, her target was her former master. She knew that, as long as he wandered the earth, neither her daughter nor she was safe. As her master searched under the table that held his victims, Willow sends the rock flying down at her master's head.

Alisea sighed with relief when she heard the satisfying pop of the lock and handed the bloody knife to Flinn's freed hand, "Here, I'll free the others from the net." She then headed back to the table that held the utensils that were meant to turn her and her friend into leather; ignoring her dear friend's struggle. As she reached for a long-thin blade that lay on the table, Horace grabbed her hand; blood dripping from his nose and mustache. "What do you think you are doing?" he hissed, in response, Alisea punches him in his broken nose; she hissed in pain as it was her injured hand she used. Grabbing the knife, she rushed to her friends trapped in the nets. Horace fell to his knees and held his nose, sobbing.

The Skintaker cried out in pain as the rock hit his unprotected skull, but when Willow swung at him again, he grabbed her wrist and gave it a hard twist; chuckling with glee as a dull snap emanated from his servant's arm. Willow fell to her knees and cradled her fractured arm like a fussy baby. Grabbing his eye from the floor, he placed it back in its socket before getting up and giving her a dissatisfying glare. "Such a disappointment, I'll make sure you will be conscious when I add your daughter to my collection." He then took a carving knife from his row of tools and turning his eyes to Alisea, who is busy trying to free Pablo from Horace's net.

Finally, having freed himself from his shackles, Flinn attempted to free Donnie until he heard Pablo's voice behind him, "Alisea, look out behind you!" when Flinn turned he was horrified to see the Skintaker grab Alisea by the neck. Not wasting a single second, he lunged himself at the monster; plunging the knife deep between the monster's ribs, trying to ignore the idea that the leather touching him came from humans. Turning his attention from the girl in his hands, he let her fall to the floor and took hold of Flinn by his hair; pulling the young man by his hair off his back and tossing him to the ground. When his head hit the cavern floor, his vision became blurry and the way his body felt his leg twisted underneath his body, sending a fiery wave of from his knee up to his head; numbing him and knocking the breath from his lungs. He cannot move, he cannot think, he cannot breathe, and after a second, he passes out; the pain from his leg numbing him from the world.

Taking Flinn's unsuccessful attempt at fighting the monster, Willow pulled herself up to her feet and retrieved the rock with her healthy arm. Her other felt like a broken twig. With a beastly war cry, she hurled the rock at her master's head, hitting him, and freeing his glass eye from its socket again. The Skintaker falls into a crumpled heap onto the dirt floor, hissing with rage and pain as Willow runs past him and pulled Alisea into her arms. "Oh dear, are you alright?" she running her fingers to through Alisea's tangled hair to brush a few strands of dirty hair from her face. Alisea nods her head in replay, but their moment is short lived as Horace lunges at them. The two separate to get away from the man and in doing so, Willow steps on her master's glass eye; cracking the smooth, glossy surface. From behind her, Willow hears her master give off a terrified shriek and he scrambles to her feet, trying to retrieve his eye. "Give it back you bitch!" he hisses and claws at her legs. It is then that she realizes that her freedom, and that of the entire island, lay right under her foot. "Run Alisea!." Willow's attention moves from her master to the figures chained to the wall. It was Donnie, fighting against her restrains as Horace managed to grab a hold of Alisea by the neck. Willow's attention returns to her master and she remembers the legend she had been told; how both met the same fate and were then tossed into the ocean. Increasing the pressure on the glass eye under her foot, she observes her master as he gives up clawing at her leg and crawls backwards a few feet to get away from her, confirming her suspicions. Her eyes narrow at him; she did not know what would happen to her, but she did not care.

"Tell the devil, I'll be there soon." With that, she crushed the tiny glass orb under her foot. The Skintaker gives off a horrified shriek before both he and Horace disintegrate to ashes. She waited and sighed when she, herself, did not deteriorate, but she felt lighter and tired, as if she were about to fall asleep.

"Willow, did you…" Alisea's words trailed off as she received a tight hug from her friend. "They are gone, that is all that matters." Said Willow before turning her attention to her daughter's friends. While Willow cut open the nets containing Floe, Lulu, and Pablo Alisea found the key to the shackles on the utensil table and freed Donnie, who helped free the blinded Thomas.

Consciousness started to return to Flinn as he noticed someone gently shaking him, quietly calling his name. Through hazy eyes, he realized that he was still in the cavern, the smell was still burning his nose, his leg felt as though it was on fire, and Alisea was bent over him; gently shaking him awake. "Flinn, are you going to be okay?" her voice was tender and full of concern.

"I'll be alright." He pushed the thought of his burning leg away from his head the best he could; she had gone through enough and did not need to worry about him. He tried to smile at her, but she had already moved on to free Lillian from the cage. Lillian was pale, her eyes were closed, and her breathing was shallow; even a gentle shake did not wake her. Biting through the pain in her wrist, Alisea picked her up and gently cradled her like a sick infant. Everyone slowly got to their feet, still shaken from the events that have just occurred. Once everyone was ready, carrying someone, supporting someone, or trying to limp along using the wall as support Willow lead the group out of the cave through the small entrance tunnel. As the group drew closer to the exit, the air started to clear and Alisea realized that the exit of the torture cavern was the entrance to the cave that had shaken her early the previous day. The grey, heavy fog that was such a pest to the crew, felt like a pleasant change and the damp air cleansed their burning lungs, but something about the fog was different; it seemed more alive.

Having reached the entrance, the group was greeted by a huge group of people. Countless locals, several children, young adults, and early elders waited for them at the entrance, filling the stony beach like a wave. Except, none of the people waiting for them at the entrance belonged to the world of the living.


	31. Chapter 31

Alisea suddenly felt Lillian stir in her arms. "Where am I?" she asked in a weak voice as her pale blue eyes roamed the beach. Her eyes now cleared of the fog. After a few minutes, the fog that permeated the island began to dissipate, as if having waited for the dead to be at peace. From there everything moved at double pace. The officer took Lillian back to the Inn, where the dead body of the old landlady had been found, and then called for the doctor; the doctor came, mended the wound on Lillian's head, then turned his attention onto Alisea's wrist. His was diagnosed as fractured and bandaged with finesse. Flinn, refused to have the doctor examine his knee, claiming that it was only twisted and required nothing more than a few days' rest.

Though still uneasy on her feet, Lillian quickly realized two things; one, that she was the sole heir to the Inn, the only one on the island; two, that by midday, Flinn would be over the horizon and out of her reach. Her heart sunk at that thought. Even though he had refused her, she knew that she could convince him to be hers, if she could be around him long enough. While Lillian longed for his touch, another wished she could forget she ever did. Alisea, waiting for the doctor to clear Thomas, looked out a window at the ocean. Far away, she thought, she had to get far away from everything; from this island, from Willow's grave, from Lillian's Inn, from pirating, and even from Flinn.

The doctor had deemed Thomas free to travel as he only suffered a broken nose and two black eyes. The doctor even recommended the ocean air to mend the swelling that the young pirate suffered from. A few more instructions from the doctor and a quick thanks and payment for food and stay, and then they were on their way back to the beach where the boat had been left only a few days ago. All the while they made their way to the boat, Thomas wailed that the Eldorado was no more, that it had been rammed by a ghost ship; yet, in the distance, the group could see the figure of the Eldorado, just as they had left it. Just as he was about to board the boat, Flinn felt a heavy tap on his shoulder; it was Richard.

"Hello Richard, I am sorry, but my friends and I must be on our way before our families miss us too much."

"I understand there kid, but couldn't let you go without a goodbye and this." The old man reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a leather string on which a golden ring hung. "I meant to give this to my love, but as you know, I couldn't. You, on the other hand, still have a chance with your ladylove; it would be a shame to let this ring go to waste on an old man like myself."

Looking at the small, golden ring glimmering in the sun, Flinn hesitates. "I am sorry Richard, but I can't accept"

"Nonsense," Carefully, Richard takes Flinn's hand and places the ring in it. "You have years ahead of you and a pretty girl that has her eyes on you; don't waste time on it and propose before she gets taken away from you." Before Flinn could object some more, Richard walks away, leaving the young captain to hold the ring in his trembling hand. For a moment Flinn watched the old man walk away, wondering if he knew the truth about Willow. Quickly, he drops the ring into his coat pocket and returns to the boat. Back on the Eldorado, the crew discovered a terrified and shocked Zorio and Rolfo in the jail; both too scared to speak or move.

Their journey back to the academy was quiet and somber, with the small exception when Myri dared to ask, "what happened in that cave?", but let the question remain unanswered when she saw the look in her friend's eyes. At some point on their trip back, Alisea dropped her injured hand in her jacket pocket, where she felt something small and cold hit her hand. Pulling the small mystery piece from her pocket, she saw that it was Janet's heart-shaped locket. She wondered how that got there, but figured it must have happened when the little ghost girl nudged her arm.

Back at the academy, Captain Triton stood in the principal's office, furious beyond compare at the fact that his learned man before him could not prevent his grandson from hurling himself into certain death "I am sorry, but given that he broke into my office and stole my personal items, there is nothing I could have done to stop him." Said the principal in a nervous tone, his sister standing by his side, tried to support him, but she too was getting uneasy in the presence of the older Captain. "You should never have shown him the map in the first place." Said the old man, shaking his fist, "You and I know him well enough to know that he would risk his life, especially since you mentioned your lost niece to him. He probably thought he was doing you a favor by acting as a rescue party!"

"I told him to stay away from that island, it isn't my fault you haven't raised him better!" The principal slammed his hands down on the table hard enough to cause a few important papers to fall to the floor and his sister to take a few steps away from him in surprise. For a moment the two men stared at each other in silence, each shocked at what just happened between them. Jacklyn was about to say something when there came a quiet knock at the door. Clearing his throat, the principal turned his attention to the new arrivals. "Come in."

Nothing could prepare the three adults at the sight that greeted them as the two captains quietly entered the room. Before either the principal or the doctor could react, the old captain rushed across the room and swept the two young ones into his arms, holding them tight as if the slightest breeze would take them away again. "You foolish boy, what were you thinking? You could have gotten killed."

"I know and I am sorry…" Flinn attempted to apologize and explain when Alisea interrupted.

"It wasn't his fault. I had the idea and convinced him of going with me. If anyone is to be punished, it is me, but before you do so there is something you should half." She walks up to the principal's desk and places the small, silver, heart-shaped locket on it. "When we got to the island, there was no fog, but the people were a little strange, It took us a while to find her former home; we discovered that she died a few years ago. Her death was labeled as sickness in the records. I am sorry for your loss."

Unable to reply, the old man picks up the locket from his desk and cradles it in the palm of his hand. In his stead, Jacklyn turned to Alisea. "What about the girl?"

"She passed away on the island from an accident. She was run over by a wild horse, it is also where Flinn injured his knee and me my wrist. I am sorry, but she wanted to return to her home. We didn't even know she was with us until we were halfway there."

Jacklyn, trying to find a loose thread in the story, simply looks at the young captain with a questioning look. "If I asked your crew, would they say the same?"

"Yes, and you can pick up Thomas, Zorion, and Rolfo as well. They too got onto the ship before we left. Thomas has a broken nose from Flinn." Her expression did not once waver nor does her voice once quiver. A mix of truth and fiction to form a perfect lie. "In that case, I should take a look at the three of you and send an officer to gather up Zorion and Rolfo. Once you settle matters here I want the both of you to come to my office." With that, Jacklyn left her brother's office.

After everything had been settled, the principal dismissed them, Triton scolded them, and the crew taken care of, Flinn and Alisea sat in Jacklyn's office with fresh bandages on their hurting joints. "I suggest the two of you take three days' rest in addition to a decent bath and meal." Said, Jacklyn, as she returned her attention from Flinn's knee to Alisea's wrist. "In a moment, can I ask you something?" whispered Alisea to ensure only Jacklyn could hear. Without missing a beat, Jacklyn turns to Flinn, hands him a wooden crutch, and points to the door. "I need to look at her for a moment in private."

"Will she be alright?" asked Flinn in response with a slight twinge of worry.

"She will I just can't have you here right now so please give us a minute." With that, Flinn rushed his way out. "Alright, what is it you want to tell me?" her voice hid a twinge of annoyance.

"I am leaving the academy." At this, the doctor stopped observing Alisea's wrist. "I have noticed that all my actions could have caused us to die at some point in our training. I have shown poor judgment of people and situations; therefore it is wise if I step down as captain and return home."

Jacklyn looked up at the young captain. "That is a very big decision to make. If you leave, then you will have wasted your time here for nothing. Are you absolutely sure about this?"

"Yes, it is for the better."

"Do the others know?"

"No, only the principal."

"So, you haven't even told Flinn yet?"

"What does it matter? We are not married, I owe him nothing." At this Jacklyn stood up and crossed her arms. "Okay, tell me what is really going on, you two were so close to this journey and now you want to leave. What happened, did he mistreat you, did you two get into an argument, are you pregnant?"

Shocked, the young captain stood up, her face only inches from the doctor's. "No, he did not mistreat me, we did not argue, and I am not pregnant. We were never together in the first place. We never kissed, he never once said he loved me, and I never asked him to tell me."

"Well something happened and I am not letting you leave until you tell me. Alisea, what you are about to do is very serious and I am worried about your future. I want to help you, but can't unless you tell me what is wrong." Jacklyn then put her arms around Alisea and held her close. "You know you can tell me anything."

Alisea leaned her head on the doctor's shoulder and tried to calm her nerves. "I think he found someone else and I have realized how poor I am in finding people I can trust. If I can't find people to trust, how can I be a good captain? I feel that I lost my place here."

"And you are sure you would find it back on Monster Island?" Alisea only nodded in response and for a moment, the two stood in silence. Meanwhile, outside the hospital cabin, Flinn leaned against the wall waiting for Alisea with the small golden ring in his hands. The longer he looked at it, the faster his heart raced; he had planned on asking her properly one day, but he knew asking her now would be too much for her to handle. Though part of him screamed at his heart to burst into the cabin, put the ring on her finger, and carry her out in his arms. He almost dropped it when the door to the cabin beside him suddenly opened and Alisea walked out. It was now or never. "Hey, Alisea can I ask-"

"I am leaving the academy and will return to Monster Island." Flinn stopped in his tracks, the ring hidden in his fist. "I am leaving in one hour on the next mail boat." Alisea turned her head to face him. "sorry, I thought I would tell you first. You wanted to ask me something?"

Flinn quickly looked down at his hand and then back at Alisea, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I have been proven time and Time again that I am horrible at choosing people I can trust. It is safer for all if I simply go home." She gently smiled at him then. "Besides, with me out of the way, you can be free to be with Lillian."

Flinn felt numb and empty, incompetent to do or say anything to stop her. The hour seemed to fly by like a second. Only a second and she was gone, leaving him to sit by the docks and look at the ship at the horizon carrying her out of his reach. She had told the others and they were now in the dining hall, mourning their loss as if she had died. The ring in his pocket feeling like a heavy brick. Numb to the world, he didn't even notice Jacklyn approach him; taking a seat beside him. "Staring at the setting sun too long can make you blind, but something tells me you don't care about that." She gently placed an arm around the young man's shoulder.

"She is gone."

"No, she is just miles away, but cheer up you have so many friends around you." She tried to offer the young boy by her side a friendly smile.

"She was more than just a friend to me. I loved her."

"Her, I thought you had eyes for another?"

Flinn looked at the doctor beside him. "Did she tell you that? I figured out that she saw Lillian kiss me, but I never kissed Lillian back. I rebuffed her advances, but Alisea must not have seen that. "He then pulled out the small ring from his pocket. "What should I do now?" he asked.

Jacklyn looked at the damage she could have prevented and quickly thought on her feet. "Well, you tell me. Tell you what, long ago I was in a similar situation. The man I loved left to another island and I was left with a choice. I chose to stay here, but now and then, I think of what might have been if I followed him. So, you have two choices, either for move one or you go after her. She loves you too, but she lost her place at sea."

Flinn looked at the ring in his hand, he loved his friends and his profession, but if he gave up on her now, he would never know her love in his life. Sitting by the docks until nightfall, thoughts racing through his mind of what to do, he took a quick glance at the stars; that is when he saw the moon. He then remembered their near kiss, how the air felt cool, yet she felt warm so close to him; the stars reflected in her dark eyes, her cheeks turning to the color of roses, and how his heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest when they were about to kiss.

That was when he made up his mind and tightened his grip on the little golden ring.


	32. Ending Notes

Thank you for reading Fog of Shadows and Discontent.

The sequel, Hunting Hear's Desire will be available on and DeviantArt.

Here is a sneak peek at the next installment.

Prologue:

Hunting Heart's Desire

He vowed to hunt her down, day by day, and from island to island. The longer she manages to avoid him, the more his desire for her grows and the deeper into his madness he falls; all the while, he is hunted down by his own fear and a silent shadow that appears to bring him misfortune wherever he goes. When he catches what his heart desires, would he be able to keep her from running away again, keep his desire and insanity in control, and keep the one he loves safe from the dark shadow behind him?


End file.
